The Last Work Friday of the Calendar Year!

I am going to head out to work today to spend the day mashing potatoes and washing dishes for our annual Holiday Dinner. There will be no music therapy today since the dinner is a big deal and the special support staff are the only ones that do not have kids throughout the day. So, we get to help out. I was kinda hoping to be on a jury at this point, but that didn't happen, so off I go!

This is the last Friday of the Calendar year, and it is a non-therapy day. That makes it pretty much a wasted day in my schedule, but that is fine. If this was a regular Friday for us, then I would have three groups, three individual/dyad sessions, and documentation to get done. Today though, all I have to do is the documentation, then the mashing of potatoes...

I saw something on Pinterest yesterday that made me smile. It was a Myers-Briggs commentary about one of my two types (you know how I said yesterday that I was in between two Zodiac signs, well I am in between all sorts of personality tests as well - it is my destiny to be two-faced, I guess). The gist of the piece was that people who display some of the traits that I do often view the changing of the calendar year as an arbitrary thing that does not have any sort of mystical or relevance to how things happen.

I giggled. It was certainly what I think every year about this time. 

The end of this year does not have any sort of significance other than what we assign to it. I remember the hype going on in 2019 about the new decade and the chance for brand new luck...and then came 2020! There was less of that silly (in my opinion) hype for the 2020-2021 switch, but it was still there. Folks were convinced that the start of the new year would magically erase all sorts of things. I heard of people who were convinced that COVID would disappear come 12:01 am. They were significantly surprised when they awoke to the same stuff happening on 1/2/2021.

Me, I tend to take a more practical approach and figured that this year would be pretty much what it turned out to be - one of the worst of my personal life. My cat died on December 25, 2020, ending that year badly for me. I was already grieving and then more happened. Of course, on January 1, 2020, my dad hadn't died yet, but it was coming. I knew. He knew. I am not sure that anyone else at home had really come to that conclusion, but I knew. He waited for six more days before letting go and leaving us. It was my mother's birthday when he left. This year has not been better for us, but it has been a time of figuring out how to do old things in a new way.

As we head towards this Christmas, I am finding that we are not struggling with grief the way that some do. This Christmas will be spent here rather than at home. I am not sure if that is something that will be good for us or not. I spent last Christmas at home as well, stuck here because of the lack of vaccine and need to continue to isolate to protect my clients. It was a defense mechanism as well, if I am completely honest. This Christmas is happening here because of how I have changed my life in the past two months. That's the only reason why we are spending the holiday together here - because I bought a house.

Lots of things have changed in the past circuit of our planet around our sun. The changes have not been only mine, but there have been so many changes for myself that it is mind blowing. I am getting myself organized and settled in after this year of upheaval and grief and continued uncertainty. 

I am almost ready to reveal my word of the year. This past year's word was "Deepen." It reminded me that I wanted to know more about what I already knew. I ended up taking a course on DIR/Floortime and music therapy. I took some continuing education about other topics as well. I attempted a reading program and got through three books outside my comfort zone. I read 200 fiction books this year. I feel that this past word helped me during my time of grief.

I have already selected one word, but there is another one that is lurking that may need to be incorporated into my psyche as well. I might have to have two words this year because they do not really relate to each other very much, but they are both words that I want to aspire towards. I think I will reveal those words on December 27th - why? Why not??

It is still about 20 minutes before I like to leave to go to work, so I think I will just keep nattering here for a bit. I was able to move boxes and unpack things a bit so there is a bit more space to move around upstairs. I still need to do more of that downstairs so I can get the new mattresses in tomorrow. My mom and sister come in very late tomorrow night. I have to figure out how to get some sleep so I don't sleep through their arrival at the airport - I am their ride! This will take some fancy napping and alarm work in various places around my house. 

Ten minutes to go. Time for the last Friday for 2021.