My Strength Is Not Mine Alone

Well this has been an incredibly hectic week! Thankfully the shower went off incredibly well! I will be getting pictures up as soon as I can remember to have my laptop, camera and camera cord in one location all at the same time. It was so much fun though. I owe a special thanks to all of those who helped organize and host, as well as those who helped clean up afterward. I wouldn't have been able to do it without you all, so thank you!!!

I then proceeded to go to a friend's house for yet another intense game of Mau. Which was incredibly fun and difficult. A lot of people had a rough time learning the rules of the game (which are not to be discussed). And Forever Friend played as well for the first time which was incredibly amusing.

After that, the week sort of went downhill! I came into work on Monday morning to get a message on my voicemail saying that one of my participants had passed away on Sunday afternoon and therefore wouldn't be attending program. It was such hard news to take... This participant was a very good man and will be greatly missed! I barely had time to take in the news myself when I had to gather all of my staff together and share the bad news with them before sending them on the road and saying, "Don't forget, be positive for the other guys!" That was a rough one to swallow.

Within an hour of sending them on the road I got a call that one of the other participants had hurt himself and I needed to take him to the ER. He ended up needing 6 staples in his head. From there I brought him home and then got word that we were telling all the rest of the participants about the passing. So I headed over to the church where the news had already been broken to them and we were creating a list of all the positive memories everyone had of this participant.

I spent all day being the bearer of bad news. It's not easy to be the one to have to call all the people that he was near and dear to from the program, former county managers, former staff, former day hab coordinators, and give them the news of his passing.

Last night I went to the wake and was able to face his mother. She was incredibly composed. If it had been my child I don't feel that I would have been able to hold the same composure. She deserves a lot of credit in my book. A lot of other participants and staff showed up for the wake and service. It turned out to be a celebration of his life and not a mourning. It was a very beautiful thing to see all of the people gather together in honor of someone who touched their life.

All in all, the stress of this week has not yet let up and I don't know when it will but I know that the strength with which I am walking is not a strength of my own or a strength that is of the natural. And it is that strength that I have been holding on to and will continue to hold on to!!!