I have been on "holidays" for the past week and a half. It has been beautiful. No schedule, no must-do's ... nothing. I also haven't gone anywhere - even when opportunity arose. See, the holidays needed to be taken or else i would have had over 100 holiday hours with about 40 sick pay hours all paid out to me the first week of May and as a result, have been taxed unbelievably so. I decided instead to take as much holiday time as I could to prevent the mass pay out (altho, there will still be lots paid out... )....
But during my time off work I've still found myself busy. Coffee dates with friends, random shopping sprees, facebook chatting (with friends not in this city/country/world... ha!). Not to mention the mayhem of Easter and the 22 people that brought to our house! All good of course.
This past Wednesday was a stand-out point though. I made a date to see my friendly psychologist, ahem, mentor, uh... future boss. He told me to come see him so we could discuss my "life". Wednesday mornings though, usually -if i'm not working - consist of me going to attend Teen Challenge's public chapel. I love it there.... A mid-week church service of the heart. Plus, I get to see some of my coolest friends all dressed in dress pants, collared shirts and ties. This week I 'gave up' my wednesday morning to facilitate a forum with the John Howard Society RJ program -- all the while hoping that the 'vicitm' wouldn't show up so i could go to chapel.
The forum went really well though. It is more or less mediation between 2 people -- you tell your story, now you tell yours -- anyone have anything else to say to anyone else, let's make an agreement -- what do we want to see come of this.... sign here, here's your copy, thanks for coming out! Once everyone's gone, it's an amazing feeling --- to have been a part of something restorative - to see people get a second chance, to see people healed, to see people get their answers.....
I left feeling like i made a difference -- and then onward to discuss my life.
Sitting in Dr. M's office is never wierd -- probably because i'm not a patient. I've been in there so often to "chat" about random things and to hang out, to borrow a book or two, to get reference letters. Our discussions are always encouraging. We talked about what my plan is for school, what happens if Plan A doesn't come through - at least I know more or less why it didn't. We planned out Option B -- or what we could do, really. See, in the Psychology dept. he had 3 psychology testers who administer various neurolpsychological tests to patients who have had some form of cognitive change (stroke, head injury, tumor, surgery etc). I've thought of doing that for a while but never really got around to it. Talking about it this time got me excited though -- simply because it's beneficial to have the training no matter where I go after. Once trained, i could use my learned skills to administer tests to children referred to a child psychologist. I could be more aware of behavioral cues and differences in regular children in a school setting.... I could generally just work during off seasons or when I need work as a tester and make a pretty good wage doing so. Plus, i could give IQ tests (the real ones) to friends as a way of me practicing!! Very cool.
Dr M. and I bantered on about my potentials in any facet -- how he could use me once i'm trained in a bunch of different ways/places .... how i could use my training in a million ways in the future... We talked about my future -- goals, money, life... He told me what he would have done differently, he told me that he thinks my place in life is a good place to be.... Encouraging!
It was exhilarating! I'm excited about life! I'm excited about where God leads! In retrospect of where I was last year, I can't believe how much I've learned about myself, about others, about God.... And I am more than blessed to have made the friends I've made in that time too. Wow.
I followed up my "Sesh" with a good visit to a co-worker on maternity leave and her wee munchkin. Rad people. Then... that evening I had dinner with a fabulous friend and gabbed about boys. *sigh* My friend even said to me "Your eyes are sparkling with excitement! What have you got going on?"...
It just seems that life is coming together in a way. What I dont' have doesn't seem to matter because in the big picture, it's all about what you do have. I don't mean "stuff" == but rather an attitude of joy, or praise, or recognition that life IS good even when it sucks. I can't take the friends i have for granted because I am who I am on account of their influence! I have legs that work and eyes that see -- and sometimes we get so petty in the little things. God is good... He is just SO good and He sure seems to know what makes me joyful -- what I truely need.....
But during my time off work I've still found myself busy. Coffee dates with friends, random shopping sprees, facebook chatting (with friends not in this city/country/world... ha!). Not to mention the mayhem of Easter and the 22 people that brought to our house! All good of course.
This past Wednesday was a stand-out point though. I made a date to see my friendly psychologist, ahem, mentor, uh... future boss. He told me to come see him so we could discuss my "life". Wednesday mornings though, usually -if i'm not working - consist of me going to attend Teen Challenge's public chapel. I love it there.... A mid-week church service of the heart. Plus, I get to see some of my coolest friends all dressed in dress pants, collared shirts and ties. This week I 'gave up' my wednesday morning to facilitate a forum with the John Howard Society RJ program -- all the while hoping that the 'vicitm' wouldn't show up so i could go to chapel.
The forum went really well though. It is more or less mediation between 2 people -- you tell your story, now you tell yours -- anyone have anything else to say to anyone else, let's make an agreement -- what do we want to see come of this.... sign here, here's your copy, thanks for coming out! Once everyone's gone, it's an amazing feeling --- to have been a part of something restorative - to see people get a second chance, to see people healed, to see people get their answers.....
I left feeling like i made a difference -- and then onward to discuss my life.
Sitting in Dr. M's office is never wierd -- probably because i'm not a patient. I've been in there so often to "chat" about random things and to hang out, to borrow a book or two, to get reference letters. Our discussions are always encouraging. We talked about what my plan is for school, what happens if Plan A doesn't come through - at least I know more or less why it didn't. We planned out Option B -- or what we could do, really. See, in the Psychology dept. he had 3 psychology testers who administer various neurolpsychological tests to patients who have had some form of cognitive change (stroke, head injury, tumor, surgery etc). I've thought of doing that for a while but never really got around to it. Talking about it this time got me excited though -- simply because it's beneficial to have the training no matter where I go after. Once trained, i could use my learned skills to administer tests to children referred to a child psychologist. I could be more aware of behavioral cues and differences in regular children in a school setting.... I could generally just work during off seasons or when I need work as a tester and make a pretty good wage doing so. Plus, i could give IQ tests (the real ones) to friends as a way of me practicing!! Very cool.
Dr M. and I bantered on about my potentials in any facet -- how he could use me once i'm trained in a bunch of different ways/places .... how i could use my training in a million ways in the future... We talked about my future -- goals, money, life... He told me what he would have done differently, he told me that he thinks my place in life is a good place to be.... Encouraging!
It was exhilarating! I'm excited about life! I'm excited about where God leads! In retrospect of where I was last year, I can't believe how much I've learned about myself, about others, about God.... And I am more than blessed to have made the friends I've made in that time too. Wow.
I followed up my "Sesh" with a good visit to a co-worker on maternity leave and her wee munchkin. Rad people. Then... that evening I had dinner with a fabulous friend and gabbed about boys. *sigh* My friend even said to me "Your eyes are sparkling with excitement! What have you got going on?"...
It just seems that life is coming together in a way. What I dont' have doesn't seem to matter because in the big picture, it's all about what you do have. I don't mean "stuff" == but rather an attitude of joy, or praise, or recognition that life IS good even when it sucks. I can't take the friends i have for granted because I am who I am on account of their influence! I have legs that work and eyes that see -- and sometimes we get so petty in the little things. God is good... He is just SO good and He sure seems to know what makes me joyful -- what I truely need.....
Here's a picture that made me smile today. I stole it off of facebook. The three guys in the picture are 3 of the coolest people I know. ... Daniel (blue shirt), Cam (center) and Mark (black shirt, camo shorts). This was taken when they went to the Phillippines with Teen Challenge as ambassadors. Mark and Daniel will be making Sushi at my big birthday bash coming up next month.... wahoo!!
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