 This here is Bill and me with our sidekick, Marilyn, at the Staff Appreciation dinner last Saturday. It's a darned decent picture of Marilyn, I say. Bill's reflecting that he really didn't want to be there. He went because I wanted to go. I don't get out much so whatever comes up to go to I like to take advantage of. And we've been including Marilyn more and more. She's also from Canada, another one of those poor lots who got a good education in Ontario and then couldn't find a job in her home country. Like my husband.
I also stepped out in another way. Somehow I got past my front door this week and committed myself to a volunteer stint at the information desk at the local hospital. Every Monday from 4-8 p.m., I'm going to be doling out information to whoever comes in the front door and doesn't know where they're going. Actually, I rather had fun doing it this past Monday, which was my first day. It did wonders for my sense of self-worth. I'll be withholding judgement, though, on how long term this venture is (re: A Near Job Experience). I'm hoping that I won't be writing a page called "A Near Volunteer Experience." I'm not feeling like I will. I've always wanted to work in a hospital but haven't. It feels like whatever you do there is so worthwhile. I have to have a job I believe in, that I feel worthwhile at. When I worked at The Ohio State University that's how I felt. Like I was in a most worthwhile place. I had always been interested in OSU and felt drawn to that. I haven't felt that sense of loyalty or caring about any other place I've worked at since then. When you've been out of the workforce like I have for eight years, it is hard to shift the focus. But that's what I wanted, needed. To shift my focus. Shift it from being housebound to being out there. Belonging to something. Getting energized and feeling useful again. I'm hoping that this will help me shift from being scared, no, scared isn't the word. From being in this mental block I have, whatever that mental block is, that's kept me from jumping in and functioning in the everyday world, from being a working piece of the cog instead of a scrap of metal on the junk heap. Anyone got any WD-40? |