“It Really Is The Little Things”

Wee One (WO) and I stole outside one morning a few weeks ago, right before the rain. It was muggy but there was a bit of a breeze on the flat land of the playground. She was swinging and I was pushing her baby doll in the swing next to her – at her request – reflecting on pushing that same swing with her as a toddler.

There’s a stream that pops up near the playground and winds through the neighborhood. Pushing the baby doll was meditative, and I reflected on the relationship we had formed with the area.

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Smiley Days

Day 18 – R

Reason to smile

You mean besides Wee One? And besides thinking about an inappropriate joke?

I’m often smiling because I am devising ways to bolster my moral superiority, which Cohiba hates.

I smiled because I’m working on a book of short stories by Truman Capote, and they’re awesome. I never really read him before, but it’s clear I need to fix that. Continue reading “Smiley Days”

Job (In)stability

I’ve actually been thinking of writing about this lately, and then today’s Daily Prompt asked: How do you feel about your job? Do you spring out of bed, looking forward to work? Or, is your job a soul-destroying monotony of pure drudgery, or somewhere in between?

I am a social worker with a Catholic agency in north St. Louis, and I work with homeless addicted and mentally ill people.  My patience and enjoyment of the position has fluctuated over the years, and maybe that’s normal.  When I first started in this position, I was happy about the work and wanted to try new things, explore different ways of helping the clients. Then I started to see the same people again and again, the revolving door, and anytime I tried something new, I was met with resistance. Later, I started graduate school, and I spent a lot of time focusing on research and macro-level intervention, something I really wanted to get into.  I had hoped to find a job for after graduation (nope) or get into the next PhD cohort (not happenin’).

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