Catch up!

Well. I had fun last weekend. A lot. Two weeks ago I talked with April and set up a weekend at her house. WOOHOO! I had been WAITING, rather impatiently, to tell her scads of news. Work, boys, interests and of course, new YEEHAW moves. (Explanation to follow)

So I set off on Friday afternoon from Hancock, NH and made the three and a half (read four) hour drive to Nassau, NY. Now, it would have been three hours. But I took a wrong turn at the VERY BEGINNING of the drive and then couldn't find her road at the end of it. There are literally NO streetlights where she lives. Great for star gazing but awful if you just want to be able to read street signs. Oh well.

I feel so good when I'm with April. She's genuinely interested in what is going on with me and wants to tell me her own things that sound marked for only certain people. I am so honored to be one of those certain people. She calls me her little sister. She never had one, it's cool to have that relationship with her. I trust her with everything and feel like she's a sister. Of course, sometimes she acts like such a kid, I am reluctant to say older sister!

For example: We were standing in the kitchen on Saturday evening with her boyfriend, Jeff. He is really very nice and supportive (I'll go into further details momentarily) and ridiculously funny. Anyway. April made some kind of comment that could sound a little dumb if you didn't know her. So, of course, I ribbed her for it. Jeff joined in because, like I said, he is funny. Well, she was making toast at the time. Let me just say that it's probably a bad idea to poke at someone (playfully of course) when she has a spoon covered in Red Raspberry Preserves in her hand. That is, unless you want the jam-like substance smeared all over your forehead. I am sure I looked really sexy. I got her back. I just wiped it off my head and smacked it on hers. This did not surprise her in the slightest. Jeff, I am sure, thoroughly enjoyed watching this exchange.

Anyway. We went shopping (yard sales, Salvation Army, Goodwill - I know, BIG spenders) and had a wonderful day walking around Albany and laughing. I spent the entire weekend smiling and happy, even when my ankle started acting up. Until Sunday morning. April was going to work out a bit and I stayed upstairs to check my email. There was a note from my boss at the center requesting that I meet with him. It sounded casual, like he wanted to go over some things for the next week. I called him in his office and I knew it wasn't going to be so casual.

There had been complaints, apparently lots, none of which were brought to my attention, and he felt uncomfortable placing me with children. That meant, in my mind, a week of resource. Ok, I thought, a chance to work on some issues and get to be the person I need to be to do this job. But, it was hard to hear that I had screwed up so much and frustrating to know that he didn't come to me about it until the weekend. He knew on Wednesday from one school and Friday from another that there were complaints and problems yet he STILL WAITED until Saturday to ask to talk to me about it. This has happened before. When it did, I asked him that if it ever happened again that he come to me sooner rather than later so that it would be fresh in my mind and I could better change my behavior in the future.

The phone conversation started as a "It's not acceptable, but don't be sorry. We'll continue (read start) to work on this and you'll get better". It ended with him saying "here's what I need from you. I need a letter of resignation on my desk tomorrow morning and I can give you a good recommendation, or I'll have to terminate you" I resigned to save face. What choice did I have? I don't like and would even go as far to say that I hate how he handled this whole thing. Monday morning I packed my car and drove back to Connecticut where I will stay until who knows when. I am extremely disappointed and I sure that I not alone in that.

Anyway, I was at April's when I got this phone call. She calmed me down. I wasn't too emotional about it yet and we talked a bit. When Jeff came home, he was so sweet. He made me laugh and I really did feel okay about it. I went out for a walk about fifteen minutes later. He hadn't expected me to leave. April told me later that he said "I wasn't ready for her to go for a walk". He'd wanted me to sit and talk and hang out a bit more before he took his nap between jobs. Sweet. Sweet guy. He also said I needed a beer, but I didn't take him up on that offer.

So, I think that's everything.

Silver Lining:
If my associate still wants me, I can be a Girl Scout Leader after all.
I found out early that it wasn't a good fit for me.
The stuff that I wasn't looking forward to, I don't have to do.
and
I'm not dead or dying, so naturally, I will live through this.

Love to you all.