Looking Glass

 I am five weeks into my new position as a Front Office Supervisor at a community health clinic. So far it seems to be going well. I am providing leadership which makes my director happy, am developing a relationship with my 11 staff members and seem to be liked. I am so appreciative of their support and help during this learning curve. They know their stuff and answer questions for me as needed. I received a compliment from my director during a conversation recently when I told him I was willing to take on more  tasks. I told him I felt as though I needed to alleviate some tasks from him, and he said, "You're doing great. I want to take this slow so you don't get overwhelmed, but I don't want you to get bored." I mentally thought, "he doesn't know how much I had on my plate in recent times." But, I will go with his flow. I must say, it is kind of weird being on a 90 day probation. I may assess things differently than this cooperate world who employ...

 I have had some fleeting thoughts this morning as I sit on my patio enjoying the view and sipping those first cups of coffee. They are moments and memories that have passed in time and softly blow through my mind, as the subtle breeze toys with the atmosphere now. They are those passing thoughts that have no significance, like the breeze that is neither warming or chilling the air, just passing through with no affect one way or another, simply an addition to the surroundings, like so many times before.  I thought of the fact that a caregiver paged at me at 9:13 AM to say she may not be able to work her eight hour day today. She was having day care issues and despite her son's father supposedly sharing in the custody and care for him, she doesn't trust him and has concerns for her son's well being. She was to return a call to me at 10:30 AM and let me know if her sister in law could babysit, and I even suggested a few hour deal as oppos...

 Thursday, 7/31/14 became another pivotal day and a tough one to have under my belt. I turned in my Letter of Resignation with dignity, confidence and a bit of sadness. It was an odd day, to say the least.  I approached Kim and Brian (the director and his administrator wife) while they were both in Brian's office. I had a copy of my resignation letter for them both. I handed each one of them their copy in an envelope. Kim, "What's this?" Brian in a joking tone, "A letter of resignation?" Kim laughed, "Yea, right." I shook my head and said in a quiet tone, "It is." Kim, "What?" They both tore into their envelopes at the same time and read the letter. When I could see them reading it for the second time, I sat in a nearby chair, unsure of what was coming next. The opening line of my letter was, "It is with a heavy heart that I give you this Letter of Resignation and notify you that my last day of employment with GTBHC...

  I sit on my patio after a long day of work and driving. The warm evening air cuddles me like a shawl while the subtlest of breezes bounds at me, enticing a cooling affect, but failing. The vegetation remains green and healthy despite the lack of rain in recent weeks. It proudly stands to the evening sky; the rhododendrons, tall wild grasses, the ivy growing at a hare's pace, all embracing the boundary of the lawn and adding a variety of greens in worship of the sun. The water is a clear reflection of the sky with  shore side trees and the bright blue sky mirroring it. The sunset is still hours away. A distant lawnmower is the only sound heard and this is a perfect time for reflection, not just for the water.  I think back on this last year and am still grateful for the job offering I had and clutched. I think of the many things I learned, the excitement of new supervisor responsibilities and the connections and respect...

 This last week I did go into a SeaMar clinic in Tacoma (near my job) to get a TB test...the final task of my new employment, other than negotiating a start date with the director. I have never had this test before, which consist of a few minutes of time and a nurse shooting a small amount of liquid under your forearm skin. Thee days later you need to go back and have a nurse see if you've developed a lump on the site. If so, something is not right. My mark went away within 24 hours, but I still needed to go to the clinic for a reading. I was able to do this in the clinic of  my new employment, here in Olympia.  My friend Angie checked the site and afterwards, being one of the managers, had a nice conversation with me about the pending job. She explained one of the primary roles is being a leader to the staff and she told me of the autonomy of the position, and office tasks. Leadership is a main characteristic they sought.  A few nights ago, I composed my...

  This is not going to be a pleasant blog post, so you may want to go onto the next blog of choice.  Saturday is usually a day of errands for me, and like many, this Saturday started out with being paged at 7:32 am, called upon to solve some problems with scheduling and staffing client shifts. At 10:41 am, most of the problems were solved, although I still had an evening shift to cover Sunday pm. Many calls were made to many care givers for help with the staffing, and only a small percent returned my calls. After all, it was 98 degrees here in Western Washington and that was probably a primary reason for the lack of return calls.  When the meat of my morning had passed, I showered and dressed to head on my way to accomplish something on a personal basis. The list of errands was on my mind and my territorial map was drawn in my mind in order to be strategic with my driving.  First was a bank stop which was handled via the drive thru and I quickly hit the freew...

 Tuesday night while at my Toastmaster's meeting, I had to step out of the room to take two "on call" calls. They were easy, though disruptive. Then my personal phone rang and out of the normal brush off, I stepped out of the room to take the call. It was Sean, the Director of the SeaMar Clinic of where I interviewed two weeks ago. I had basically written the interview off but he called to offer me the position of Front Office Supervisor, of which I had applied. I was stunned and gracious.  We made arrangements for my time to be at the clinic Thursday morning to complete some new hire paperwork and background checks. I was above cloud nine but kept my mouth shut to anyone else.  When I got to the car after the meeting adjourned, I felt choked up and called my daughter in Houston. I had to tell someone! She put me on speaker phone so her fiancé' could hear as well, while I made the announcement. My daughter was especially thrilled because she has been around enough ...