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Tales from the West Texas Dust

© Coy Holley

"BEHIND THE BARS" SERIES: AN INTERVIEW WITH RANDY AND ROSIE WILLIAMSON (PART V)

We continue with our interview with the Williamsons in which we now feature Rosie and her thoughts about being the spouse of an ex-convict:

101: Mrs. Williamson, knowing that you have, for some, what might be an association with an "ex-convict" as someone that you're hanging around [in which] people have the impression that he might not be very trustworthy. I want you to tell me from your perspective, from your eyes - I want you to tell me about how it is to be married to someone, in which, with all of the story you just heard - give me how you view it through your perspective having to deal with the situations that Randy has as a result of what has happened to him in the past.

Mrs. Williamson: Living with a convict and seeing all the problems he has - how he cannot do this and [how he is] limited to do that - in a way, I've felt like that, too, in my own life because I was limited to learn in school. Right now, I feel like I still need to start going to school now that I have seizures...Living with a convict - how he can't talk about this; he can't talk about that - and me, I'm saying "Wait!" with the seizures - I can't talk at all when they're in progress, no matter which ones it is. Randy..he's not scared, he doesn't have fear in him.

But he's smart - he can teach me things that I should have learned as a kid - but I was slowed down by what I call "zig-zags." I had to learn bits and pieces of everything I know now. As an example, learning fractions and math - I don't even know that. I got to learn only bits and piecesof what a fraction is, how they can go from big to small numbers - I don't even know that. I see Randy as a very smart person. At least he was able to go to college - I never could. As smart as he is on computers, I call him "Professor" - I couldn't ever do that. I've tried going on to those computers - just doing that is confusing to someone who has to learn bits and pieces of everything. I don't even drive at all - having a convict that drives, that's good. (Mrs. Williamson laughs.)

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