Only a touch of frustration

So, you know that thing when you write a long reflective piece, give it a few edits, start to really like it, and then your computer decides the battery is dead? Yeah, that happened with the first version of this post. But I'm not that annoyed. My front yard smells like a campfire, my kitchen is full of leftovers, and nobody lit themselves on fire last night (at least not at my house). All of this speaks of a very successful solstice and puts me in quite a holiday spirit.

Our first home visit was kind of funny. Both our family specialist and E. were very nervous. I can understand Len's nervousness- I was there all talkie-McTalking and she was probably terrified I'd say the very wrong thing and our house was in a bit of disrepair. But why was the caseworker so nervous? She always seems a little anxious around us. No, I don't think it has anything to do with our "family structure" or any prejudice on her part. I think that most of her caseload is families that only speak spanish. During this visit, she kept saying "I've been speaking Spanish all day." Switching languages can be unsettling. I have wondered if she was given our case because of our last names, just like why I never get credit card offers is English and why telemarketers are so confused when Len tells them she doesn't speak spanish. The family specialist is perfectly competent in English so may that's not why she's antsy around us . . . I will continue to observe and let you know when I reach a more final conclusion.

Anyway, the poor thing had been meeting with families all day and we were scheduled for the afternoon. Unfortunately, her arrival coincided with the ruckus that is school dismissal. One of my favorite things about our house is that we live right across from a big highschool. Twice a day the whole world of hoodies, hairdos, and pumped up stereos descends onto our street. I love the laughter, yelling, honking, and music. I really love getting to see the "fashions." But, for someone trying to physically get to our house via car- that is the worst time of day. And of course we had all the windows and doors open and the sound leaked into the house. She kept looking around her, a little like a kitten experiencing simultaneous fear and curiousness.

She walked us through tons of paperwork and then walked through our house.

The house walk through was a little embarrassing, but motivated me toward my "January= conquer the house" goal. So really, not a big deal.

The paperwork however, is the same obbs and gobbs of paperwork we filled out before, but this time with some new and frustrating gramatical ambiguities. Overall filling out the whole packet is quite a production in our house. I'm not so good with writing things in little boxes, I get numbers confused, I write the wrong letters in the wrong places, I have a very hard time reading and understanding the directions- Len has to reread and double check every paper I do. Its a bunch of blah.

But not so bad. What's really bad is the questions.

Here, you give it a try.

FUN BLOG QUIZ FOR YOU!
"As a child, did you get along well with them?"
(nope, you don't get to know who "them" is?)

"What rules cannot be broken in your house?"
(ummm . . . yeah think about it for a moment. Len said "gravity?")

"How are foster care and adoption different?"
(this one appeared to be a pop quiz thrown in the middle of listing who you lived with from age 2 and 8 months until 4 and 7 months)


"What are your concerns?"
(ok, if you're an anxious type like me, this is a very broad question and the answer involves koala bears crossing the highway and how long walnut mushroom bisque lasts in the fridge. There is no way my answer fits on the two lines provided.)