While I still haven't borne the full brunt of what will soon constitute an "average" week consisting of forty hours of work; five hours of school; sixteen hours of internship; and presumably sleep somewhere in between, my emotional and mental thresholds have been apprised of these possibilities. This week, school definitely came prepared to make demands on my time while work at the agency, surprisingly, dropped the ball in this regard.
Over the past week, I only managed to complete a single Dollar Energy appointment and the pantry generated an incredibly modest nineteen families and forty-seven individuals. Other than completing annual paperwork for each family, my work week at the agency was gratefully slow.
The School of Social Work, apparently recipients of the memo that my time was available, piled on scores of pages of readings, which although sometimes tedious and more often than not bled into a mire of resilience literature too dark to discern, was genuinely intriguing and interesting. My Children and Families at Risk course leverages the experiential knowledge of the students and professors as well as the sometimes haunting trauma of the children featured in the text to discuss the perilous
Jenga tower that is the well-developed and emotionally healthy child. Not only am I enjoying the course on its own terms, it's already beginning to inform my interactions with clients and staff, an evolution that has left me incredulous.
My travails through the Grand Kingdom have been fruitful and empowering. I've managed to devote a respectable thirty hours to teaching my shadows to endure fatal strikes, loot their foes, and restore their health through motion. Along the way, I've fought dozens of bizarrely shaped and overtly-aggressive mistakes of nature, including the
poo snake. Although I've yet to discover how to balance my time between my real-world commitments to education, hygiene, and relationships, I cannot wait to return to the (level) grind.
Chavonne and I have been working to keep ourselves and one another sane in the face of our constant separation due to internships and school commitments. Because we've had so little time to interact with one another, we take extra care to ensure that that time spent is positive and uplifting. We
talk more deeply and thoroughly than at any time in our relationship, I believe. We genuinely enjoy one another as people rather than as simply partners and it makes a profound difference in the breadth and depth of our love. I'm grateful for our friendship because we're both able to step out of our roles as partners and offer advice and council as needed, which has become crucial as the stress of our current hectic lifestyle sometimes overcomes us.
Chavonne is really my best friend and it's just another way I'm probably the luckiest guy you'll meet.
2009, if you've paid any attention to my blog or my that of my
babewife, was not exactly a banner year for the Wright household. However, one curiosity of a calendar year is that two of the most celebratory times, Christmas and New Year's, stand as islands of light and levity in an ocean of swirling, snowy darkness.
Our Christmas, spent alone with the pups, was thrilling, to be frank.
Chavonne asked me to seclude myself in our second-floor bathroom while she established a complex
scavenger hunt for me to complete in order to find my presents. She listed a subtle hint as to where to look and then a quote relevant to the gift;
Chavonne is notoriously poor at dropping hints, so this provided a great challenge and was a whole lot of fun. Far and away my most exciting gift is a Black and Decker
paper shredder, providing for me the gift of identity security and privacy.
For
Chavonne, I bought a sewing table after significant consultation
from my mother-in-law, as well as arranged a New Year's Day trip to the Inn on
Negley to stay in the
Macintosh Room. Knowing how emotionally and physically difficult 2009 was, this cozy and absolutely quaint hotel was just what we needed. We enjoyed our first English high tea (Captain
Picard was really onto
something!) and learned that scones are to die for. More significantly, we just
talked to one another about our life, our goals, our dreams, and our fears. I'm so lucky to be married to someone I can learn something new about every day.
Since that highlight,
Chavonne and I have returned to school and work without renewed purpose or, sadly, energy. Historically, the first three months of the year are the slowest at the agency as energy assistance calls and pantry utilization falls off significantly. I'm grateful for this because it allows me to at least initially focus on my academic responsibilities, which are multiple. This semester will be learning about Models of Intervention (which I'm anxious to really delve into), Children and Families at Risk (I'm keeping an open mind toward working with children), and beginning my second (and final) Concentration field placement at...the Women's Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh! I will be working in the
MEN/s group, which I'm insanely excited to do. I'm hoping that I can really learn about domestic violence and do right by the group participants and myself. It should be a challenge, but (as of today, anyway) I'm up for it!
Sadly, things do not bode well for Mario and Luigi as I've completely cast aside my
DS for console games once again.
Chavonne and I spiked one another into pits, threw one another into molten lava, and otherwise displayed comedic ineptitude whilst playing
New Super Mario Brothers Wii, which I recommend highly. Since our rescue mission has been completed successfully, I've sworn an unswerving vengeance upon the
Land Shark that destroyed my home.
In all, 2010 looks from the outset not dissimilar from 2009. I'm warm, well-fed, deeply in love, and hard at work. Hopefully we'll take a few more steps forward this year as well.
