Okay.....so I went back to work early....

I took my body back to the unit yesterday when I wasn't actually SCHEDULED to return until today.

I'd already missed three clinical meetings and four administrative meetings.
I hadn't seen the kiddos OR the staff for over two weeks.......

*chuckling*

Those were good enough reasons for me!

So I showed up yesterday and tried to greet one of the staff members who was outside when I pulled up.

"You're not suppose to be here!"
Nice way to be greeted after over two weeks of being gone, huh?

She vanished into the building and up the stairs.
When I landed on the unit I got:

"You're not suppose to be here!"

(Gee.......Made ME feel real special.....)

No worries--I'm just there for a small chunk of time and then I'm outta there to go to the silly administrative meeting I attend!

"You haven't been downSTAIRS have you?"

(Okay. It doesn't take a rocket scientist--and folks were acting all sortsa peculiar and nervous.)

Nope.

"Well, good....umm..........will you be leaving soon?"

The darn meeting starts in an hour and it's an hour's drive--g'head and do the math.

And they didn't have to seem so darn cheerful when they chirped "GREAT.....have a nice meeting!"

Ummmmm......welcome back, Mel--gee, we missed you?

"Oh yeah....welcome back! Isn't it time for you to head out to that meeting?"

*shaking head*

A day early and no warm fuzzies were gonna be gotten by THAT crew!
As I got escourted off the unit I DID get asked if I had a nice vacation.

I met my boss at the administrative meeting and he raised his eyebrows, cocked his head and greeted me with "You're not suppose to be here!"

*rolling eyes*

YES I KNOW THIS! Sheeeeeshhh....my staff greeted me the same way! No 'HI MEL! Gosh we MISSED you', no 'Did ya have a great time' or 'We're so glad you're back!'..... And by the way, I'm pretty convinced they're up to something cuz they demanded that I not go downstairs.

"They're up to something."

And you know what that is?

"I visited Friday and they were a VERY happy bunch."

Care to share what they're up to?

"Nope."

Oy.

Now, you need to understand the LAST time I went away, came back and was told NOT to go downstairs I trusted that and didn't. FOUR days they insisted that I not go down to the offices "CUZ". On the fifth day I was 'allowed' to go to the offices. (wasn't that nice! LOL) This is where I discovered that the staff had been playing 'shelter' to a stray dog, hiding him in the offices, taking him up to the unit and letting the kiddos play with him when I wasn't at the office until they found him a home.

Nice staff, dontcha think?

ASK how much it cost to delouse the place afterwards!

And ASK if the 'landlord' allows animals in the building.
NOT UNLESS THEY'RE SEEING-EYE DOGS. Oy oy OY!

Oy.

Can I just say my staff are sometimes VERY sneaky? (sometime's they're not....LOL)

I'll admit that I spent some time last night being concerned, wondering if it was another dog OR cat they were hiding downstairs, feigning the critter was a 'therapy dog/cat'. They're good fibbers like that. I hear tell you hire people who are 'like you'.

Obviously that's more than a bit true in my case.

Today I went into work AS SCHEDULED.
And I got greeted much differently.

"Welcome back, Mel! Nice to have you back! Did you have a good time?"

I wondered who'd replaced my staff with the Stepford Staff. LOL
But I did get hauled downstairs to the offices by half of them.

Gosh...I thought I wasn't SUPPOSE to go downstairs.

"Oh, that was just plain silliness....of course you can go downstairs!"

Ohhh......I see. You found a HOME for the wayward dog......

I gotta tell ya....very strange thing to be escourted to the office area by half of your staff to discover that one of those doors has your name and 'title' on it....etched in brass.
Now, that probably seems 'fitting' and 'proper'. When you have an administrative position you're suppose to have fancy name placques on your desk or door, I hear.
I have 'THE office' downstairs...it's where the calculator is, it's where I take kiddos and families for teleconferences. Several therapists use THE office to do sessions, the staff use it to do staffings....

But 'MY office' is the kitchenette on the unit. You wanna talk with me, that's where we're gonna go to chat.
It's where the coffee is.

It's where the kiddos are.

It's where the staff are.

It's where I always wanted TO be.

And today, I got a newly painted, newly furnished office.

Beautiful golden walls with burgandy accented border.
Brand new desk, chair and bookcases.

Brand new area rug.

Brand new flatscreen monitor.
Brand new, beautiful wall decorations.

New clock.

New pencil holder, even.

And there was even my candle and antique milk bottle with shells, rocks and sea glass from England. (uh huh.....the gal who was watering my plants let them in to collect two things from the house to put in 'MY office')

It's hard to get me to a 'speechless' point....but they got me there.

And they're smart little fibbers.

They knew I'd struggle with having a brand new office with a fancy schmancy name placque.......so they put brand new TOYS on the brand new bookcase. Play-dough and a Mr. Potato Head toy...and NEW CRAYONS.......and there's a brand spankin' new slinkey, even. AND sand castley making stuff!

It'll be a transition for me, I know.
It's a gorgeous office, really it is.

I'm humbled by the effort they went to.
I'm proud of the people they are and the energy and investment they have in the lives of the kiddos and families we're graced to get to work with.

The coffee pot is on the unit.

But the new TOYS ---are in MY office.

I'm thinkin' I can manage to take a cuppa coffee downstairs with me for thirty minutes every now and then.
I can bring the slinkey up and give him a walk down the stairs! Woooohoooooo!!!!!!