This is the view from my camper. I find myself living at the ocean! Okay, it’s not really the ocean, it is considered a bay. BUT, it is waterfront, the water is salty, and there are waves lapping at the shore. I am content, and Pearl is overjoyed (she LOVES swimming and this was her first visit to the ocean).
This week has been a whirlwind! The first week of every assignment happens to be one of my favorite times. It is spent meeting everyone (staff and leadership), observing interactions, assessing processes/procedures, and speaking with staff to get their feedback (I enjoy learning from them what is working well and what could be working better). All of this can lead to information overload, but I enjoy the challenge of finding all of the puzzle pieces and putting them together. It is so important to gain as much insight as possible to determine what challenges need to be prioritized so that strategies can be determined.
The first week is also spent meeting new people and developing new relationships. I am not a social person by nature (some people would find this hard to believe). I have spent years on personal development to overcome this. Now, I would say that it comes as second nature and I enjoy the ability to relate to people, but it requires more energy for me than for those that it comes naturally to. I climb in bed every night exhausted (but it is a good type of exhaustion).
Wookie spent his first day at the facility looking for familiar faces. When I told him that we were going to work (he totally knows the word “work”), he was so excited. But, he went in the door on a mission as if looking for his friends from the previous facility. It will take him a little time to adjust to his new friends.
I spent this past weekend at the ARHFA World Championship in Ft. Worth with my husband. It was the culmination of his dreams to show/compete in this event (I am so PROUD of him). He has spent his whole life dreaming of this opportunity and was able to take three horses to the show. It has been years since he was able to focus on his passion. He competed on a rodeo team in high school but had a hiatus of sorts (life got in the way). We are working class people. We have spent the entirety of our adulthood working two jobs each (at minimum) to raise a family and make ends meet. There was never any money or time left over to spend on personal interests. We now find ourselves in a moment of time that we only hoped could happen. Due to life experience and the nature of our careers, we also understand the fragility of this moment. Life can change in the blink of an eye, so we are soaking up every minute of the here and now.
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