Vacation? Day One - The Papercrafting Room
Happy Day after Christmas (otherwise known as the second day of Christmas), and I am presented out! We bombarded the three year old with his own stack before the rest of us started. That seemed to be a good strategy as Mr. 3 played with all of his stuff and let the rest of us open things. We did everything except for stockings yesterday, and I got to sleep at a pretty decent hour for me. I now am navigating the early morning hours as a guest in a house where folks sleep in WAY past the time that I get up, and I am reflecting on what it means to be a music therapist on vacation.
Being on vacation is always a bit difficult for me. I used to feel guilty about leaving my clients, and then I realized that I did not play as large a role in their lives as they play in mine, so it was fine for me to be on my way for a couple of weeks during the year. Being away from them on purpose made them notice me a bit more. It also refreshed my creative spirit and therapeutic purpose, so win-win! I now go on vacations, but they are often not "Going Away" vacations, they are either Stay-cations or "Go to My Childhood Home and Spend Time with Family" vacations. Being on vacation in this way is also a bit difficult, but it is essential for my compassion fatigue and therapeutic effectiveness to get away from clinical work for a bit.
My room at my parents' house is my sister's old room and it is now one of mom's craft rooms. This is the papercrafting room. If you ever wonder where I get my hoarding tendencies and need for stuff, all you have to do is look around this room. There are 10 bookshelves full of paper punches, scissors, stamps and stencils, and various gee gaws. My mother doesn't use very much of this stuff on a regular basis, but she uses it all occasionally, so it is here. I get lost in this room, exploring and imagining what I could do if I was independently wealthy and could stay in this room all day making things for music therapists! But, alas, I am not independently wealthy, so I'll be stuck at a full-time job and several part-time jobs, making things every so often rather than all the time.
I spend several morning hours in this room, waiting for my mom and dad to wake up and get going with their days. Since they are now retired from just about everything, their sleeping patterns have become much more erratic and difficult for me to merge into. We used to all be awake by 6am their time, but now the time we actually get started is either 3am or 8am. That's lots different from me - who gets up at 4am my time (2 hours earlier than M & D time) every single day. I don't want to disturb anyone, so I stay in this room until I hear others creaking around. I think I'll put my early morning times to good use in this room, taking pictures of the various things that my mother owns so we can put them into the project binder I made for her this Christmas. I can take pictures of all of her dies and punches and then print them out. It would work. At the same time, maybe I'll play a little bit with what she has to see if I want to get some of those same things for me... The major problem with that? I have internet and Amazon access right here, so anything I want can be sent to my address at home and I can get it pretty much instantaneously! Dangerous!!
It is time to take my medications and to get started on what I want to do today. I anticipate that there will be some shopping to do - my parents need a new movie player - theirs skips all over the place and drives me batty - and I want to get my annual Mexican food fix over with so it will be nice and digested by the time I have to get back onto an airplane. Other than that, we have stockings to open up and then things to play with from yesterday. We probably will not see Mr. 3 or his father today, but we never really know when they will show up. Ah, my brother's life is a soap opera and I am just a recurring VERY minor character!! Moving on...
There is some creaking on this floor, so I think my mother is finally up and around. I'll go check in with her in a bit to see what's happening because it is pretty early here - only 4:22am. Maybe we will get in some papercrafting before dad arrives upstairs. Maybe not...
Being on vacation is always a bit difficult for me. I used to feel guilty about leaving my clients, and then I realized that I did not play as large a role in their lives as they play in mine, so it was fine for me to be on my way for a couple of weeks during the year. Being away from them on purpose made them notice me a bit more. It also refreshed my creative spirit and therapeutic purpose, so win-win! I now go on vacations, but they are often not "Going Away" vacations, they are either Stay-cations or "Go to My Childhood Home and Spend Time with Family" vacations. Being on vacation in this way is also a bit difficult, but it is essential for my compassion fatigue and therapeutic effectiveness to get away from clinical work for a bit.
My room at my parents' house is my sister's old room and it is now one of mom's craft rooms. This is the papercrafting room. If you ever wonder where I get my hoarding tendencies and need for stuff, all you have to do is look around this room. There are 10 bookshelves full of paper punches, scissors, stamps and stencils, and various gee gaws. My mother doesn't use very much of this stuff on a regular basis, but she uses it all occasionally, so it is here. I get lost in this room, exploring and imagining what I could do if I was independently wealthy and could stay in this room all day making things for music therapists! But, alas, I am not independently wealthy, so I'll be stuck at a full-time job and several part-time jobs, making things every so often rather than all the time.
I spend several morning hours in this room, waiting for my mom and dad to wake up and get going with their days. Since they are now retired from just about everything, their sleeping patterns have become much more erratic and difficult for me to merge into. We used to all be awake by 6am their time, but now the time we actually get started is either 3am or 8am. That's lots different from me - who gets up at 4am my time (2 hours earlier than M & D time) every single day. I don't want to disturb anyone, so I stay in this room until I hear others creaking around. I think I'll put my early morning times to good use in this room, taking pictures of the various things that my mother owns so we can put them into the project binder I made for her this Christmas. I can take pictures of all of her dies and punches and then print them out. It would work. At the same time, maybe I'll play a little bit with what she has to see if I want to get some of those same things for me... The major problem with that? I have internet and Amazon access right here, so anything I want can be sent to my address at home and I can get it pretty much instantaneously! Dangerous!!
It is time to take my medications and to get started on what I want to do today. I anticipate that there will be some shopping to do - my parents need a new movie player - theirs skips all over the place and drives me batty - and I want to get my annual Mexican food fix over with so it will be nice and digested by the time I have to get back onto an airplane. Other than that, we have stockings to open up and then things to play with from yesterday. We probably will not see Mr. 3 or his father today, but we never really know when they will show up. Ah, my brother's life is a soap opera and I am just a recurring VERY minor character!! Moving on...
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