Getting Your Ducks in a Row

 

Today I understand better the saying: "Getting All My Ducks in a Row"

 

Ever felt like your head is full of ducks.....so many different critters all quacking for your attention while you are trying to figure out your life. Nothing makes sense, and you are fighting for survival?

 

 

Maybe it's time to let some of these thoughts out.

 

My week: a client, who is almost 80, came in with his 24 year-old girlfriend. He is very deaf, and she is a skinny-as-a-rail former meth-head mother of three. They have been together since his wife died, and he seems unconcerned that she has had 3 kids in the interim. He is so concerned about her "lisbean" friend coming to the house and getting between them that he is yelling it all over the courthouse lobby and she is shaking her head in embarrassment and maybe even a little pride.

This was the same day I counseled someone whose boyfriend had punched her numerous times in the head, but she still "loves him"; someone else who has been swindled out of many thousands and is so distressed over losing her life savings; someone else who was attacked by her doctor; and someone who was kidnapped and attacked by 3 men; and someone who sat in my office a month ago is now dead.

 

 

This has been my life for the last year, not including the heartbreaking stories of the children who have been abused by step-family members, or even their own parents. And don't get me started on the people who lie to me every day.

 

In the meantime, while I hope I am making a difference somewhere, somehow, the grant that funds my position gets dwindled down to 1/6 of what it was....hmmm...what does that mean? I do not know.

 

My brain is tumbling with a million different thoughts....Maybe I just need to make some room for all the other things that are likely to come my way today and this week, this month, this year! My ducks are not all in a row yet, but just thinking of it in that way has helped.  Quack, quack....

 

 

 

 

Don't Stop...Don't Give Up....Keep trying.....it's in my head now.

How many times have you been tempted to give up...on a dream, on a relationship, on an idea, on life...?

This nice gentleman was in my office today, and he has quite a story to tell. He watched the movie, Second Hand Lions, and decided to bring a yacht back to his pond in southeast Missouri. In spite of it taking a month to get his yacht from Florida to Missouri, with most of the time stuck in Alabama, he did not give up, and is restoring this beautiful boat today. Way to go, George.

In my work, I deal with people who have already given up and with some who want to give up. But there are those rare souls who have been handed a whole basket full of lemons, and then just go on and make lemonade. Tracy lost his sight in one eye, but is thrilled that due to a marvelous surgeon, he will get to actually keep the eye. So what if he had to undergo over 5 hours of surgery. Angie found a new job where they are thrilled to have her cheerful spirit, and she gets a new lease on life. So what if her last boss was a real piece of work. Debbie has left a very abusive husband, and is working in a nursing home where she feels she has much love and caring to give to people confined to beds and chairs. So what if her memories of married life still give her bad dreams.



If you haven't already seen this little girl's version of a Yo Gabba Gabba song - (not having little kids around, I had to google it) - her version of Don't Give Up gets in your head.

While I have been tempted to give up on some things this past year, people like the ones mentioned above encouraged me.....I won't give up....I will keep trying.......