This is why I spend my days off sleeping...

I am coming to the tail end of my longest shift of the work week. I've been at the shelter since Wednesday afternoon and I will be leaving tomorrow (Friday) morning, after debriefing with the incoming manager. It's always a challenge for me because I start to loose energy around 3 or 4 pm on Thursday, long before bed time. :-)
But today was a little different from the normal Thursday running around. This was for several reasons: 1) It's the last day of school and our kids are ecstatic. 2) I spent my morning attending an hour long Kindergarten graduation... I didn't know it was a thing, but it is, complete with diplomas, professional pictures, a slide show, flowers, gifts, etc. 3) A mom who has stayed with us almost a year is moving out (a stay is typically six months so this is unusual and also hard to say goodbye). 4) Our youngest baby of the house has HFMD (Hand Foot and Mouth Disease) 5) The mother of aforementioned baby is a new mom battling some pretty heavy anxiety and past trauma.

Now add to that mix cooking a multi-course goodbye dinner for 11, giving a painting lesson to 4 rambunctious little ones who are all sugared-up, leading a Bible Study on the 17 history and law books of the Old Testament, and last but not least... de-escalating an anxiety attack and getting a sick baby who had not had anything to drink for 10 hours to take a bottle, settle down, and turn into a happy, giggling baby to give back to mama. And all that was just what happened after 4pm today!!

Yeah, not gonna lie... that last part was a good way to end the night. Being able to hand a soothed, happy, and fed baby back to a mom who had given up and was ready to go to the ER is one of the reasons I do this "job."

I still love my job and don't want to be doing anything else, but I do appreciate my days off.

<3

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