Read Online Yours for Eternity: A Love Story on Death Row by Damien Echols, Lorri Davis - Free Book Online

driving me insane that I won’t be able to talk to you tonight. I miss you so much. I just keep thinking about how I will get to talk to you face-to-face in just 4 days. I can’t believe it. I’m going to try not to cry when you leave, but I can’t promise anything.I’ll just be glad when this is over, and we can sit and talk for as long as we want, about anything we want, with no glass between us, and no phone that cuts off in 15 minutes. It’ll be so great. But until then . . . I see you in 4 days!!!
    I was also thinking about what you said about there being so much in New York that you wanted to show me, and I formed a plan. As soon as I get out of that courtroom, I’m going to the nearest phone I can find. I will call and tell you I’m free, and I’m on my way. Then I’ll go straight to the bus station (I’m not flying anywhere unless I can fly with you) and off I will go. I’ve only ever ridden the bus once before, all the way from Oregon to Arkansas, and I thought it was pretty fun. I wonder which is farther away, New York or Oregon? It seems like Oregon would be. A long, long road trip. That sounds so wonderful after having sat here in one place for so long. When I was on the bus, I didn’t even get carsick for some reason. Maybe it’s because it’s so much different from being in a car. Can you drive? I don’t think I could force myself to do it. It’s scary. Listen to how I’m rambling on. I didn’t think I was nervous or excited.
    *
    I can feel everything here coming to a climax, I can feel it with every part of my being, that’s why I believe so very strongly that I’ll be out of here soon. And I can’t wait; I’m just so excited. It may sound strange, but until you found me again, I was a little afraid of being released after being here for so long. But now, I can’t wait, because I know that with you, there are so many more wonderful things in store. I would love to take you to the lake by which I used to live, and just sit quietly with you all night, watching the light reflect off the water, thinking. And I want so bad to be able to see the town where you grew up, to be able to see the very place that you were born. It would be wonderful.
    Sending so much love forever to my dearest one,
    D.

July 24, 1996
    My Dearest Lorri,
    I wish I could just explain what you mean to me, but it’s impossible. I can’t put it into words. I have to try, when I talk to you on the phone tonight, to explain myself, but I know I will fail miserably. Maybe if I try to write it and explain it, I can somehow make you understand at least a little.
    So here goes, this is the only thing I can think of: For so long now, the quote, “In my darkest hour, grace did not shine on me” was my philosophy, my outlook on life; it became my “trademark.” But now I realize that the only way I could say such a thing is because I was blind. All the time, grace was shining on me, and it was shining more brightly than a spotlight, and the only reason I couldn’t see it was because it shone so brightly that I had to close my eyes to it, or it would have burned them out, as if I had been gazing directly into the sun. My eyes were closed so that I couldn’t see it, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there all the same. Now, it’s as if my eyes have been opened, and I can actually see, and everything is so beautiful that it couldn’t even begin to be described by the human tongue.
    For so long, I kept asking, “Why is this happening to me? I haven’t done anything to be punished like this.” But once again, I was only able to say that because I was blind. Now I see that it’s not a punishment, it’s a reward! It’s the reward of a thousand lifetimes, and now I ask myself, “What have I ever done to deserve a rewardlike this?” And I’m more happy than I’ve ever been in my life, in any life. And I’m more thankful than anyone could ever imagine. It’s as if now I truly know how the saints felt when they were