Take Two: Focusing on the Happy Things Right Now and Avoiding the Sad Ones

I am stuffing lots of emotions way down deep at the moment. This is the second post that I have written this morning. The first was too steeped in grief and guilt and specific situations happening in my life at the moment to share. It was raw and not something that I want others to glimpse often. I may be able to share some of the thoughts at some point with someone, but I just can't do it now.

So, here are the happier things happening.

When I arrived at work yesterday, the closet was empty of all the stuff that had been stored in it when it was the student store. The carpets were filthy, but I had expected that - not everyone lives by the adage "leave a place better than you found it" that I learned in Scouting - so I swept the big pieces out and vacuumed the dust bunnies. After that, I moved the cabinets from where they were appropriate for student shopping to places where I could maximize the space in the closet for my music therapy stuff, and my intern and I started moving things!

My goal was to move everything out of the space that is the intern's office into a semi-permanent location in the closet. We accomplished that goal early in the morning! I then sat while my intern put together the drum set (that we now get to keep up and semi-available all the time) to demonstrate her knowledge of that particular instrument (competence demonstration - check!!). I then sat and contemplated where things would be accessible but not in the way. I finished off my time in the closet by placing all the big instruments onto shelves where they can be used as appropriate. I now have too much storage (which is a GREAT problem to have), but I do not want to fill all that space...yet.

This weekend, I will take some time here at home to think about what things I want to take back to work. The conga drum, for example, is something that I had to bring home when I had to downsize. I have not had a safe place to keep it since I moved into this room (four years ago today, according to Facebook), so it has been sitting here at home. It will be better used at work, so it can go on the list for eventual transport. I have places for some of my more unique and fragile instruments now as well, so it is time to start reintroducing those materials into my therapeutic process.

Also, now that I no longer have to put up with all classrooms coming into my room to shop in the store, I can open up some individual sessions again. I hope that I can get some students scheduled in pretty easily, but we will see. It has been a struggle to get teachers to sign students up for times that really work in the students' schedules. Teachers sign up for times and then double-book the kids. It's ridiculous to sign a kid up for individual music therapy and then send them out on Community-Based Instruction...but, I digress. I am hoping to get individual sessions going again.

Today is the first day that students will be in the building since Thanksgiving break. I will be leading two groups today, and my intern will be leading three groups. After work, I will come back home and catch up with things happening with my family. 

My Dad is not doing well but has not let go yet. His twin sister should have arrived last night sometime (after missing her flight earlier in the morning), but I have not heard if all that actually happened. He apparently had a long talk with me yesterday (it was a hallucination). I really wish I had been on the other side of that conversation. Mom says he finished it up by saying "goodbye, sweetheart," which is his way of ending calls with me, so she knew he was talking to me. This is the point where the other post became too much for me, so I think I will stop here and get ready to head for work. Later today, I will go to the vet's office to pick up Bella-cat's paw print tribute thing.

There is too much for me to handle right now, but handle it I will. My Dad teaches me that every second.