I have not always been a camera toting, toms wearing, ONLY jeans owning, girl.
My daily life used to be incredibly different. For 7 years, I worked in the social services field. I drove to St. Louis, and then all over the county. I wore polyester dress pants. I drove clients in my car. I saw food pantries, hospital ERs, psych wards, the Medicaid office, probation offices, courtrooms, and even funerals.
While I would never want to go back to that career and lifestyle, I can honestly say that I have no regrets. Zero.
This is why:
1. I am so thankful for my mental health and the mental health of my family.
2. I am thankful to work close to my kids and husband. {I recall one time when my son choked on meatloaf at daycare and had the Heimlich maneuver used on him. Even though he was fine, I was still an hour’s drive away. And it was a frantic hour until I could get back to Edwardsville and see for myself that he was only crying because his meatloaf was on the floor and not in his mouth.}
3. I am thankful that my job excites me and does not exhaust me.
4. I am thankful for a car that only uses 12,000 miles a year, instead of 40,000.
5. I am thankful for the amazing people I got to work along side of.
Amy is one of those people. I don’t get to see her or my other social work friends as much as I would like to, but they are the people who got me through some of the hardest parts of my job. Social work can be an ugly field. There is a lot of crap in the world, and social workers tend to wade through it every day. Amy, (and Carla, and Tarese, and Jennifer, and many others) are lifesavers. I am so proud to have worked along side of them and to learn from them. And I could not have done the job without them.
And here is Amy with her gorgeous family:
Amy, it was wonderful to see you and get to meet your gorgeous family. Thanks for hiring me, and thanks for being such a great support for so many years.
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