A day in the (not so normal) life.

Perhaps I need to have better self discipline if I plan to use this blog as my memory regarding the craziness I encounter every day. A bit has passed since I last posted, and I've already forgotten the majority of what I've encountered, but here goes another "day in the life..."

So we made a few visits today to a few houses with semi-normal people. Semi, meaning not so much. First house wasn't bad, but was definitely mentally exhausting. It's amazing how easily confused I can get when other people are talking gibberish, thinking they actually make sense. What I'm still fascinated by is how people are so quick to think they'll get me to change my mind about what I'm saying but I don't budge, then when I tell them everything they don't want to hear, they end up saying "yeah I see what you mean. that makes sense." ?? Now I'm not complaining, but how can somebody be SO SURE about what they're saying, and confident that I'll do what they're asking me to do, then with a few circular conversations about the same topic with different wording, they're convinced that I'm right. Of course we all know that I'm always right, but the level of influence that comes with tone of voice and just the right amount of confidence is incredible. Oh, did I mention the pictures of the penis the woman at the first house showed us, accompanying them with "This is what my ex-husband was sending to what he thought was a 12 year old girl, telling her it was him". Had to tell her that if those pictures were him, I wouldn't be going to talk to him ever in life. She claims they weren't. Doesn't take away from the guy still being a creep.

Second house we visit, after we've sat at the above stated woman's kitchen table for an hour, essentially arguing with her for the entire time, is a family with ethnic names that could've been pronounced the "American" way, but really should've been pronounced the "Mexican" way. This is "my" way of not knowing the appropriate/politically correct way to say "we were pretty much a couple of rednecks in some Mexicans' living room". The rolled "r", accents on the tail end of the names, and spellings that are used for both ethnicities but pronounced differently, are not a good idea to throw at us in 98* weather at 4:00 in the afternoon. I'm not sure how many names Tricia (co-worker) threw at this family before she finally broke down and said "I can't pronounce your/hers/his name right and it makes me mad that I can't say it like you". But I think the best part about it was as we were walking out the door, Tricia asked what their chihuahua's name is. Answer? Fluffy.

Now let's rewind a few days and visit a home with a teenager that has multiple developmental delays. This teenager is a friendly kid, but I really do sometimes wish I could crawl inside his head to figure out what's going on in there. Mid-conversation about being abused, the kid says "Wanna see my yearbook? I have a playlist in there that I think you'd really like. Do you know the band 'Megadeath'? They sing songs like "I'M F!@#$%G MAAADDD!!!" I think you'd really like it". Ummmm, wha? OK kid, let's get back on track here....about the abuse you've been a victim of. Oh wait, but he hasn't been abused, he's bi-sexual and has been a willing participant. "Do you want some Teddy Grahams?" *shoves them toward mine & Tricia's faces*.......

I used to think it takes a special person to be subjected to this insanity and walk away at the end of the day, still able to see the good in the world and get a decent night's sleep--I'm beginning to think oblivion is contagious.

Back Again

I've decided to get back into the blog and start writing to my heart's content. Again, I couldn't figure out how to log in again, and may not remember for another 6-8 months, but I really am going to try to keep this up on a weekly, if not daily basis.

What I really want this to focus on, (since I don't have kids or a pet or a husband to write about), is the every day shenanigans I face through the wonderful world of DHS. I'm hoping to be able to recall most/all of the events from each week, because honestly, it's never anything any person could make up, and most things that happen should be remembered forever, just to allow myself a good laugh every now and then, and to appreciate 10 years from now the amazing life I've had the privilege of living.

With that said, I'll start with today. Went to court this afternoon. Had to be there to hear testimony from a doctor in the Child Abuse Unit at Children's Hospital. Got into the courtroom and had to sit through a few delinquency hearings, one of which involved a teenage girl, I'd say around 14 years old. She was there to see about getting an alternate placement because being at the detention facility apparently wasn't working out for her. Her mom was on speaker phone, asking the judge to allow the girl to come home, promising she'd "be good" and they'd "keep an eye on her" until another placement is found. The judge came back with telling the mom he couldn't trust that her God awful daughter (not his words) would "be good", considering she was facing a probation violation for attacking her dad with a knife. The girl begged to be allowed to go home, and she too promised to be good, especially if they put her on a tether. Judge didn't go for it, and remanded the girl to lock-up until they could find another place for her to go.

Here comes the interesting part. This girl, after begging and pleading with the judge to allow her to return home because she'd be good and she knows she "messed up", ends up refusing to stand up from her chair. She starts crying and screaming "I want to go home!! I'm not standing up!!" and to the Sheriff's deputy "Get off me! Get your hands off me!" as he's trying to get her to stand up and cuff her. He gets her to stand up. Gets one cuff on her. She gets her other hand away, so he slams her into the witness box, face first, smacking her face on the corner of the judge's stand, and gets her other hand in the cuffs. She kept screaming as they took her down the hall and back to lock-up, there was some crashing and banging heard, and the judge says "Well, I think I made the right decision on that one". And called the next case to the table.

In what world does it make it normal to watch all this go down, then continue with the rest of the afternoon as if nothing had just happened?

Stay tuned, kids. A day in the field with a co-worker never ceases to end with some very interesting stories. And some of those stories aren't even about the clients....