Congratulations, Ryan!

Nephew/cousin Ryan is a Peace Officer! That's a fancy term for an employee of the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, or DOCCS, because every government agency needs an acronym. Fulfilling a promise to himself and his late mother, he completed the 8-week course here in Albany in a record 7 weeks thanks to a virus named after a beer. Before the virus changed our daily lives, he was a regular part of them these last two months -- stopping by on Fridays on his way to see his daughter in the north country and once even spending the weekend with us when Alayna had other plans. On that particular weekend, he watched six of the seven "Escape at Dannemora" episodes, the "based-on-a-true-story" dramatization of two men's 2015 escape from Clinton Correctional Facility that forced a lot of changes to the NYS penal system. The course was pretty grueling, modeled very much after an Officer Training School or other boot camp. Lots of PT (physical training, not therapy), lots of classwork, lectures, weapons training, and a dose of pepper spray in your eyes for good measure. Graduation was canceled like the rest of the world these days, so we didn't have a chance to take him out for a celebratory dinner. So until we can hug again, we're proud of you, Ryan! New York State was so proud they said thanks, gave him a certificate, and told him to report to the medium security Washington Correctional Facility on Tuesday. It's about an hour north of us, so when human contact resumes, we can't wait to celebrate in prison, er, person.