A Gratitude Post #1

Today, I had a very good day.  I was able to go to work and accomplish a lot, which always makes me feel well.   I had 3 patients who told me I helped them with something, and 2 family members who expressed gratitude for my contacting them.  One disliked what I was telling her, but still acknowledged having a contact was better than not hearing anything at all.

Taki woke me up this morning.  She wanted breakfast, but when I was getting ready for work, she sat on my clothes. A sure sign she did not want me to go to work.  I thought she might be upset by the possibility of storms.  We had some showers this morning, but the storms came tonight.

For those of you who do not know, Taki is slightly developmentally delayed, so some things upset her more than others.  She was potty trained quickly as a baby.  However, some days, she has problems with making her mark, if you will.  Tonight was one of those times.  We had an electric squall blow through, at about the time Taki needed to use her litter dish. The storm was pretty much over head. She missed the litter box.  That upsets her, and she scratches, and scratches and scratches.  I think that is left over from when Sake schooled her about litter box etiquette, and did not hesitate to tell her when she violated that etiquette.  However, when I assure her she is okay, she is able to settle down.

The thing is, we do not always know, and often do not at all know what things will impact those in our world.  As Taki's life companion, I can predict some things, and sometimes, read the signs when I am missing the predictions.  And  Taki is persistent but patient.  

But we are all different, and something that impacts one of us, may not even have an effect on another of us. We cannot know.  But this is one of the skills of a social worker, to be receptive and open to the messages our clients give us that inform us of what is impacting their life and adding to their distress. Social workers start where their clients are: this may be physically, or even environmentally, but more often socially, emotionally, and psychologically. 

Oh, my gosh.  So I am thankful for my patients and their families, and for Taki, and her insecurities, but also her willingness to accept assurances from me.  These folks allowed me to address them where they were and gave me the indicators I need to address their needs in the future. 

Wow, I would consider that a highly positive day!

Feel Good Movies

I watched the movie  Radio http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/radio/ today.  I recently did a training of new officers at work, and the training had to do with developmentally disabled people and how to interact with them.  The subject of savants came up, so I used the example of Rainman http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095953/.  The class kidded me about not having seen other movies that they referenced. So, I took down the list, and agreed I would let them know what I thought.

To get to see the movies, I signed onto Netflix http://dvd.netflix.com/MemberHome. I had been a Netflix customer in the past, but would receive DVDs and let them sit for weeks before I watched them and returned them. It seemed a waste, so I discontinued my membership. It was interesting to me, that after all this time, when I went back to Netflix, my information was saved.  My experience in the past that when I quit a website, and then return, I have to sign on as a new customer.  I was impressed.

I do not have a smart TV, or a tablet, Ipad or smart phone.  I guess I could stream videos to my computer, but my router is old, so no matter how fast my Interet is, and Suddenlink recently increased its speeds, my modem and router will limit speeds.  I will eventually upgrade this equipment, but I refuse to be forced to upgrade while the equipment is still functional, if I do not have to upgrade.  The last time Suddenlink increased their speeds, they forced everyone to get new modems.  This time, they did the upgrade in such a way that we are not forced to get new modems.

So, anyway, the timing was good.  I had a snow day, and did not have to work. The DVD arrived today, thanks the United States Postal Service https://www.usps.com who really did come through in spite of the snow storm.

So, I watched the movie. And cried through most of it. Not because I was sad, but because my heart was touched and it was feel good tears that I cried. This movie was a fictionalized version of a real story. I like movies like that. It was a really good movie. I suspect most of you who read my blog have already seen this movie.  If you have not, I would highly recommend it.