Heeeeeere's Johnny!...

Err...well, actually it's just me. Jeanne. Mild-mannered, happy-go-lucky, not-at-all-psychotic Jeanne (and, just for the record I'm not a crazed ax-murdering fiend either).

So, I'm here. I haven't found made time to write about the minutiae of daily life of late. Just haven't had it in me, I guess.

And right now the only really "big" news to report is that I will most likely be heading back to work part-time as soon as next month. Remember my embarrassing story about asking my old boss for a copy of my resume when I couldn't find one on my computer? Well, she sent me that email letting me know that I was welcome to come back to work for them 'whenever' I'm ready. That was a few weeks ago. Fast forward to last week, which was school vacation week (and a good time to find me in an ideal 'escapist' mood in which I daydream about leaving the kids in the competent care of others and drive off to a real job that comes with a decent paycheck), and my old boss called me up asking if I could come back sooner rather than later. As it turns out, the reason for the phone call and the job offer was because she had very bad news to share - a coworker (and fellow SLP) was just diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. I previously worked with this SLP and have nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for her as a colleague - and I just really like her as a person. I was so sad to hear the news and I would ask anyone who prays to say a few words of prayer for her as she fights this horrible disease. In any event, I feel compelled by this news to try to find some way to juggle my schedule so that I can help - sooner rather than later. Thus, my thoughts lately have been consumed by scheduling conflicts (and how to most effectively resolve them) and trying to bone up on the latest and greatest in research and implementation of a variety of assistive and augmentative communication (AAC) technologies. I'm working my way through a 500-page textbook on communicative competence in AAC users and trying to find colleagues who will allow me to shadow them at work so I can reacquaint myself with a variety of AAC systems and try to clear the assorted cobwebs and dust bunnies from dark corners of my atrophied brain! Not an easy task - and one made harder by finding myself on the fast-track to gainful employment when I had thought I'd be waiting until at least September.

But, as much as I'm nervous about the thought of re-entering the work force and trying to force my brain to remember all that "professional stuff" that I squirreled away somewhere (I hope!), there is an equal part of me that is excited by the challenge and the chance to get back out there and do what I was trained to do! And, I would be lying if I didn't admit to relishing, just a little bit, the thought of a tidy little paycheck every now and again! I really have enjoyed being home with my girls and just "being" here for them for the everyday stuff as well as the more momentous occasions like their first steps and a variety of school-sponsored events that take place during normal working hours. And it's not like I'm going back to work full-time right now. I will still be available to go to events at school and prepare them their snacks more days of the week than not. But, I will also be getting back a bit of the old "professional" me and using my skills to help others. It's a good feeling.

Wish me luck! And pray that I can make the transition from full-time SAHM to part-time WOHM with relative grace and aplomb (and that I don't turn into some kind of ax-wielding psychotic lunatic in the process...).