Evaristo Salas Jr.

The drive back was funny because they were all kind of talking with each other.

And I hadn't been in that kind of setting, not even in the visiting room with all of them like that.

So it was just, it was a beautiful feeling.

When I got home, I was, there were 30 or 40, you know,

The people there, they're all my nephew, nieces, cousins, and most of them I haven't met before.

So I just got out of the car and they were all shaking my hands.

And I was like, oh, this is a lot of people.

And here I was in front of my house.

first time.

It was amazing because it was like, I always thought about when I was getting out that it would be come back to home, that it would be home.

And it looked pretty much the same, just little parts were different.

Certain areas were a little bit older.

time had done it, you know what it does, you know, but it was pretty much the same, exactly the same, you know?

And so when I walked in front, I was just, I mean, I was like, I was looking at everything real deeply because I had envisioned this so many times in my life.

And a lot of times that envisioning that is what kept me alive and kept me strong through all those years of heartache and pain in prison.

And so to actually be at this moment, it was surreal.

They already had the barbecue going.

I mean, it was... When I was a kid, we used to have family get-togethers all the time, and this is exactly what it was.

You know, there's...

You got pop in the coolers, all the families there was laughing and joking, kids running around everywhere.