Synthesis Sunday: Seventeen Days Before Winter Break

It is time to get back to work for the next seventeen work days (23 calendar days) that are left before Winter Break. At this time last year, we returned to work to find a COVID outbreak amongst our residents, and we ended up being away from our students for six weeks. This coincided with my father's decline and eventual death and was a very dark period in my life. 

I am hoping that this year will be a bit more festive and a bit better for us all.

So, seventeen work days between now and the end of the calendar year.

These seventeen days will be fraught with emotion for my students. Jealousy and uncertainty become evident between students who do not have stable family lives and those who do. There will be excitement about the upcoming holiday but there will also be a change in traditions for my residents. My day students are at home and have more stability than the residents. It is a difficult time of year for many reasons.

When we head back to school tomorrow, we will find out if anyone has COVID again. I anticipate that there will be some cases - after all, folks will have been traveling around. This year, though, I am fully vaccinated which means that we will not be going into isolation again. We will just go back into COVID precautions for the people affected - not for all of us.

I have decided not to do a holiday sing this year - we are still trying not to get everyone together in the same room at the same time for very long. Singing is not the best idea during a global pandemic with clients who do not use masks consistently. So, I will keep this idea on hold. We will do something else, if I am pressed to do something. I doubt I will be because we have new administrators who have not experienced much of what I used to do in my role as music therapist at my facility. We used to do musicals and talent shows and sing a longs and full out programs at our local community center theater. It has been a long time since I have been able to do those things, but with new administrators...I may be able to resurrect some of these older traditions. Something to think about.

So, for seventeen days, it will be my job to keep doing music therapy with students and staff members who are increasingly emotional (as we all are every year at this time) in the midst of another year of pandemic responses and uncertainty. I will need to focus on being consistent and structured even when surrounded by people who are unable to control their own emotions. I have to be the consistent one - oh dear. That may be a huge difficulty based on my own mood swings these days.

It is time to move forward into this season of uncertainty and angst. It is time to try to find some fun and joy as we interact with one another through music.