Christmas life update and more meme!
Hello everyone! Did you have a wonderful holiday? I know I did! I made latkes for Hanukkah (all by myself, which was a little sad, but I still felt cool) and then Noah and I went to my parents' house for Christmas. It was all very delightful. For Christmas I asked my parents to get me primarily practical things, since I'm in the process of paring down my non-practical stuff and because I suddenly have this whole place to myself that I need to fill with basic necessities. My parents did an even more spectacular job with the gift-giving than usual--I would say they were 99.999...% effective this year. Some highlights:
-a waffle iron! Some of you may be familiar with my insatiable craving for waffles. This waffle iron will be my best friend.
-arm warmers! Also my best friends.
-a beautiful quilt for my bed (which is currently still an air mattress on the floor--don't even get me started on the one horrendous mattress-shopping experience I've had so far, which has permanently temporarily put me off trying again to find a real mattress and boxspring).
-several cookbooks I'd been lusting after
-WALL-E on DVD. GUYS.
Many of my family and friends have also given me cookies and chocolate to take home. This has resulted in me having a fridge that contains one Tupperware container of bean soup, and the entire rest of the fridge is full of dessert. Oh dear.
Noah's gift was the most surprising, since he went out and replaced my aging, slightly sad 6-year-old Mac with a used but stunning 2009 Macbook!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I still haven't found the perfect name for it, a name that encompasses both how crazy awesome it is but also hints at the reliability and longevity I'm hoping it will have. Maybe I should just name it Gandalf. :-P
All of these weren't the best Christmas gift I received this year, though. Let me set the scene for what the best one is.
At my work, there's a client who isn't really verbal but mostly just sits by herself and doesn't interact with anyone. She's kind of OCD, and she likes to put together these block things. A lot of times she likes staff to help her, and she expresses this by taking one of the blocks and firmly pressing it into your hand. Last Thursday I was standing talking to another staff member, and this client comes up to me with a puzzle piece. Instead of pressing it into my hand, she looked straight at me, held it out, and said. "Florence."
I was stunned. I looked at the staff standing next to me, who was also stunned. "Did she just say 'Florence'?", she said. I later talked to the instructor in our area, who said that in all her years of working here she'd only ever heard her say one other word, and it was something not very meaningful related to her toys or something. So this is only the second word we've ever heard her say, and it's my name. I wish I could have recorded it so I could play it back forever. I never thought that hearing the sound of my own name would be the most amazing thing that could happen to me, but it totally is. I know that for a lot of people who care deeply about clients with severe disabilities, you daydream about them being able to say your name. Communication means the world to you. When I worked at Longview I used to dream at night that my nonverbal clients could talk to me. So I'm overwhelmed with the honor of the connection I have made just by being there for someone.
Anyway, all this talking and I haven't even gotten to the meme! Luckily, it's a short one tonight.
Day 08: A moment you felt most satisfied with your life.
I don't know what the moment was that I felt MOST satisfied with my life, but I definitely can remember distinct moments when I've realized that my life is so perfect. One of the biggest is that, before I got my current daytime 1:1 job, I used to sub for the organization and would go out every morning and help clients get off the buses and into their areas for the day. Every day, seeing their faces would remind me that all was right with the world. I knew that no matter what happened with them before they got here, and no matter what was going to happen with them today, right now seeing their faces makes me so happy. I don't get to do that anymore because I have a specific 1:1 I have to take care of, but I still remember that fondly.
-a waffle iron! Some of you may be familiar with my insatiable craving for waffles. This waffle iron will be my best friend.
-arm warmers! Also my best friends.
-a beautiful quilt for my bed (which is currently still an air mattress on the floor--don't even get me started on the one horrendous mattress-shopping experience I've had so far, which has permanently temporarily put me off trying again to find a real mattress and boxspring).
-several cookbooks I'd been lusting after
-WALL-E on DVD. GUYS.
Many of my family and friends have also given me cookies and chocolate to take home. This has resulted in me having a fridge that contains one Tupperware container of bean soup, and the entire rest of the fridge is full of dessert. Oh dear.
Noah's gift was the most surprising, since he went out and replaced my aging, slightly sad 6-year-old Mac with a used but stunning 2009 Macbook!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I still haven't found the perfect name for it, a name that encompasses both how crazy awesome it is but also hints at the reliability and longevity I'm hoping it will have. Maybe I should just name it Gandalf. :-P
All of these weren't the best Christmas gift I received this year, though. Let me set the scene for what the best one is.
At my work, there's a client who isn't really verbal but mostly just sits by herself and doesn't interact with anyone. She's kind of OCD, and she likes to put together these block things. A lot of times she likes staff to help her, and she expresses this by taking one of the blocks and firmly pressing it into your hand. Last Thursday I was standing talking to another staff member, and this client comes up to me with a puzzle piece. Instead of pressing it into my hand, she looked straight at me, held it out, and said. "Florence."
I was stunned. I looked at the staff standing next to me, who was also stunned. "Did she just say 'Florence'?", she said. I later talked to the instructor in our area, who said that in all her years of working here she'd only ever heard her say one other word, and it was something not very meaningful related to her toys or something. So this is only the second word we've ever heard her say, and it's my name. I wish I could have recorded it so I could play it back forever. I never thought that hearing the sound of my own name would be the most amazing thing that could happen to me, but it totally is. I know that for a lot of people who care deeply about clients with severe disabilities, you daydream about them being able to say your name. Communication means the world to you. When I worked at Longview I used to dream at night that my nonverbal clients could talk to me. So I'm overwhelmed with the honor of the connection I have made just by being there for someone.
Anyway, all this talking and I haven't even gotten to the meme! Luckily, it's a short one tonight.
Day 08: A moment you felt most satisfied with your life.
I don't know what the moment was that I felt MOST satisfied with my life, but I definitely can remember distinct moments when I've realized that my life is so perfect. One of the biggest is that, before I got my current daytime 1:1 job, I used to sub for the organization and would go out every morning and help clients get off the buses and into their areas for the day. Every day, seeing their faces would remind me that all was right with the world. I knew that no matter what happened with them before they got here, and no matter what was going to happen with them today, right now seeing their faces makes me so happy. I don't get to do that anymore because I have a specific 1:1 I have to take care of, but I still remember that fondly.