My last day of work
Well, yesterday (Sat., Dec. 29) was my last day of work. It made it a weird feeling day since it was so final. I had mixed feelings about it:
Since my own cases are only with kids, that makes a bit of a difference. Kids are much easier to get attached to. I get to do more of the fun stuff with them and not have to deal with their abusive/neglecting parents. I told the last of the kids I work with yesterday that I wouldn't be working with them anymore. One of them told me I shouldn't leave and that I should do my internship at her school. It was so sweet and made it that much more sad. The kids I worked with were all quite like-able, even more so when you think about all the shit they have been through.
To add to my sense of loss from quitting, I will miss many of my co-workers. Now, I haven't hung out with any of them outside of work, but I really enjoyed talking with them. We shared war stories of parents and kids we've worked with and other social service jobs we've had. It was great having others who actually understood the crap we had to deal with. They were fun people, and I will miss that environment. We had to have a safe place to get out stress.
Yet, I also have an amazing sense of relief. I never had to testify in court. HOORAY! I'm not going to have to be concerned about any legal issues of visits and such anymore. MAINLY though, I can FOCUS on grad school and not feel like a total bum for not working since I'll be interning about 32 hours a week and taking extra classes. I won't feel like I'm running in 15 directions at the same time and spend most of my time overwhelmed because I never have a break. I will have some time for Matt and possibly even more importantly ME. I've neglected me for a while now.
Since my own cases are only with kids, that makes a bit of a difference. Kids are much easier to get attached to. I get to do more of the fun stuff with them and not have to deal with their abusive/neglecting parents. I told the last of the kids I work with yesterday that I wouldn't be working with them anymore. One of them told me I shouldn't leave and that I should do my internship at her school. It was so sweet and made it that much more sad. The kids I worked with were all quite like-able, even more so when you think about all the shit they have been through.
To add to my sense of loss from quitting, I will miss many of my co-workers. Now, I haven't hung out with any of them outside of work, but I really enjoyed talking with them. We shared war stories of parents and kids we've worked with and other social service jobs we've had. It was great having others who actually understood the crap we had to deal with. They were fun people, and I will miss that environment. We had to have a safe place to get out stress.
Yet, I also have an amazing sense of relief. I never had to testify in court. HOORAY! I'm not going to have to be concerned about any legal issues of visits and such anymore. MAINLY though, I can FOCUS on grad school and not feel like a total bum for not working since I'll be interning about 32 hours a week and taking extra classes. I won't feel like I'm running in 15 directions at the same time and spend most of my time overwhelmed because I never have a break. I will have some time for Matt and possibly even more importantly ME. I've neglected me for a while now.