Nathan Has a Song

Today has been wonderful. Really. I got to work late after sleeping in. It happened to be the perfect day for this, as my first meeting wasn't until 10:00am and required no preparing. I went to my meeting. It was about writing a treatment curriculum for children with problematic sexual behavior. Although the meeting was not so productive, it's great for me to get a chance to have conversations with people who work in the same realm as me. And there were free donuts. After the meeting I went to my office and met up with a friend I used to work with when I was a direct care staff. Several months after my promotion, this person transfered to my program and now works for me. He had to have surgery a couple weeks ago and has been gone since. Today he returned on a part time basis as my assistant until his full recovery, then he will be back on the floor working directly with the kids again. It was great to have him back and to have someone whose sole priority was to help me with paperwork and filing. While he sorted through gobs of papers for me, I prepared somewhat of an agenda to discuss for an all staff meeting. I met up with all my staff at Puerta's and we had a great meeting. The downside to meeting off-campus is that we must be very careful about what we say, in order to keep confidentiality of our clients. However, the pros outnumber the cons. Meeting off-campus give us an opportunity to really relax with one another, something we all need very much. It gives me a chance to see a more personal side of my staff and get a closer view of the interpersonal dynamics within my team. The level of participation is also much greater in this environment. So, after this meeting, the program counselor and I grabbed a company car and headed out to pick up a resident from school and take him to his home to check things out a bit. We have constructed a safety plan for this kid to help him not re-offend and to remain stable while on home visits. It was an uncomfortable experience, but very educational. I felt very disturbed being in a place where I know so many terrible things have happened, the unmeasurable amount of sexual abuse that occurred on that property, but I'm going through a phase at the moment where "disturbed" is only a passing thing. Lets hope that lasts. I think. Anyway, by the time we returned from the home visit, I just set up a few weekend visitations for my new kids I received on Monday, then I left. I was probably only in my office for two hours today. How awesome!?!? I need days like that more often! Then I came home and straightened up the apartment a little. A lady is moving in next door and I helped her carry a couch up the stairs, and later a huge hutch. Then my mother-in-law stopped by with our cousin so Kimberly could work her magic and wax her eyebrows and cut her hair. Then she made tacos and we watched HEROES and visited a bit. There was just a little drama with our downstairs neighbors for a couple minutes. They were upset about some ridiculous parking issues. If only they could have prepared themselves to deal with Kimberly! She was very nice to them, but also very direct. It actually made me laugh a little because there was just no way for the angry neighbors to respond! Kimberly shut them down with a quickness! It was awesome! Flies with honey. She made me proud ;o) We finished up our lovely visit and watched some more HEROES. WHAT A GREAT DAY !!!