Jail Diaries

By Belinda Celayir

Foreword by Sirman Celayir, Belinda's father The years 2004 to 2006 marked an especially difficult cycle in Belinda's life. It began with her divorce from her good-for-naught husband of several years, who had recently quit work under some pretense, whom she caught stealing money from her purse to buy drugs. As I was told, Belinda was arrested for borrowing a car from a family friend, which car was then stolen from Belinda by a supposed friend, for which she became liable and taken to jail. While in jail, Belinda's mom, with whom she had been living, died unexpectedly of cancer, upon which her (Belinda's) son was taken away from her home and given to her ex-mother-in-law in West Virginia. After also losing her job as "vet tech," the family home her mother had purchased, for which Belinda had been paying the mortgage, was declared delinquent and was put on sale by the bank. While trying to make sense of these sudden and cataclysmic turn of events in jail, Belinda the free spirit felt like an animal in a cage. The poetry she composed during this very difficult time in her life reflects her shock and despair at her situation, her desperate way of maintaining some composure and passing time. The cycle began to wane when I picked her up from jail upon her release on Aug. 9, 2006 and moved her to a new condo I had just purchased for Belinda in Fernandina, Florida, where our Anne (my mother, her grandmother) was waiting for her with open arms, who had raised Belinda as much as Belinda's mother when Belinda was a child. This was eight years ago . . . Anne, who lived to age 97, passed away two months ago (on Sep. 9, 2014). Belinda has been employed since her arrival, presently living with a roommate in another apartment in this same complex, driving her own car, and is in the process of stabilizing while also having fun. She is in touch with her son (Jeremy), who is now a young adult employed in West Virginia near his other grandmother.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1503148513
• ISBN13: 9781503148512
• Release Date: November 2014
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 92 Pages
• Weight: 0.26 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 5.5" x 8.5"