"On Oct. 5, we had fun day. Fun day is a once a year day designated by the Department of Corrections when the inmates can eat fun food, not work and let their hair down.

Fun day has not always existed. We used to have family day. A day designated for families to come and spend the day, eat food and visit outside under more relaxed circumstances than in the visitation room. We also used to enjoy a summer school banquet when everyone who worked in the school spent an afternoon watching silly movies or playing against the teachers in a softball match. We ate all sorts of treats and laughed ourselves sick.

Times changed however; the school party vanished; family day was discontinued and fun day emerged.

Not everyone is eligible to participate in fun day. Anyone who receives a disciplinary infraction in the three months proceeding fun day may not attend the festivities. Obviously those people in segregation or other specialized housing units also may not attend. About 750 of us made it.

My agenda, my mission, my goal for fun day is to eat until I explode. Other people like to play bingo, play softball, basketball, volleyball, dance, participate in tournaments, and this year there was a marvelous dog show where the handlers put their dogs through a series of obedience and obstacle course exercises.

But my agenda was to eat. Specifically I had my heart set on the big soft pretzels, the popcorn and the Sara Lee strawberry shortcake.

Other fabulous treats were also available but I like to approach things with focus, to seize my fun with the precision and perseverance of a military strike.

So I held firm in the long, long line for popcorn and ate it while I stood in the long, long line for the pretzels. Then back to the popcorn... and so it went until lunchtime when the most delicious hamburger I've eaten in 20 years stole the show. I had to lay it down and eat other things to force myself to savor it slowly rather than gulping it in a blur.

After lunch, I began my pursuit of the strawberry shortcake in earnest. I was finishing my third, with some popcorn on the side, when I realized I was lying in the guess. Drunk with sugar and salt, I turned to a friend sitting a few feet away, 'I'm laying in the grass.'

'Yes, you are,' she smiled. 'Is it damp? Are there bugs?'

I began to investigate: the smell of the earth, the warm soil, the crabgrass, the sharp blades of a weed, the soft bright green of healthy grass, little creatures wandering, making their way through the turf. I lay flat on my back; a cool breeze against my skin and watched the clouds roll by. I felt the ground beneath me; sank my fingers into it.

As I lay there, I reflected how I had nearly missed this best opportunity for fun. Not that everyone enjoys lying in grass or would find that fun-but I do. And I had almost missed it. Not because I wasn't doing it but because I wasn't aware of what I was doing. I had been lying in the grass for a good hour before I realized the gift.

It startled me. What else do I enjoy that I fail to take pleasure in because I am so preoccupied? What other gifts do I not appreciate? What other joys are within my grasp if I just woke up their presence?

Fun day had two surprises for me: A scrumptious hamburger and lying in the grass. It was a reminder that the best pleasures come in unexpected and surprising ways. More than that, fun day reminded me that no matter where we are in life, joy is there." (Elizabeth Haysom, Fluvanna Review, October 27, 2005).

Elizabeth Haysom is presently incarcerated at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women in Troy, Virginia. This column is one of a series, published under the general heading 'Glimpses from Inside.'