Tessa and Shannon are back at work today! Yeaah!! Can you tell I missed them? They are really great respite care workers, but I also feel like they are my friends.
With Shannon I felt I got more accomplished in 4 hours than I have all week (probably because I didn't have respite all last week!). For one thing, I was up in my chair waaay before 10. She is the only caregiver, besides Mom, who picks me up. Then she helped me pay my bills, which I'm proud to say are finally shrinking, and fed my lunch. One of the things I appreciate about Shannon is that I can really grouse about my family to her. She doesn't try to give me advice, just lots of sympathy. Since my nervous breakdown this past summer, I've found that letting off steam about certain things is a tremendous help. I can decide if I have a legitament concern, or if I need to overlook something. And if I do need advice, I'm much better at expressing myself to the elder, sister, or cousin I'm speaking to. Sometimes I'll even be upset about something, but not able to know why, and Shannon will make a comment that clears it up. I'm glad she's going to be hanging around for a couple more years.
Before she left at 1, she set me up at the computer. It's where I can be the most independant when there's no one around for any length of time. So this afternoon, I wrote more of my Round Robin segment, which I hope to post by Thursday.