Oh, P-C, much ~ma for your mom and hoping that it turns out to be nothing major.

Mom update: she's doing as well as can be expected in the wake of the accident. Broken index finger, fractured wrist, cracked rib, banged up knee (the one that she's supposed to have had surgically repaired yonks ago, but put it off because she didn't want to deal with the surgery and recovery...) and general soreness, especially with neck strain.

She's supposed to be off her feet, with her knee elevated and iced regularly. Is she doing this?

Of course not.

She's also driving my sister batshit, as is to be expected, and venting her spleen on everyone.

Apparently, what happened with the accident was that she was waiting at the drive-through pharmacy window at Walgreens, but being that it's Miami, they were taking forever, so she turned the car off to wait. (Why? I don't know.) When she turned the car back on and put it in gear, the car just took off, before she even depressed the accelerator. (Her car is a newer model where you have to have the brake depressed in order to even shift gears, so it's not like she got the pedals mixed up.) Apparently, the car took off and she basically rode it along the side of the building, hitting the iron pylons deliberately in an effort to slow the car down, since the brakes weren't responding quickly enough.

She had it at the Chrysler dealership a couple of weeks ago for some maintenance and according to her, they took it all apart-- not sure why, but I'm sure that's going to come into play.

Thanks for the ~ma, y'all-- I guess now what we need is patience ~ma for my sister.

Yikes, Barb. Glad she's recuperating okay.

I put my car in park to wait all the time.

I put my car in park to wait all the time.

But do you turn it off completely?

That's freaky, Barb. Glad she's mostly okay, though.

I turn my car off to wait (and so the drive through operator can hear me) all the time. But the worst that's happened is I've forgotten to depress the clutch (you worthless pedal, you'll never amount to anything) when restarting and had the dramatic lurch & sputter.

Yes, I do. If I'm going to be sitting more than a minute or so, I turn it off.

Apparently, the car took off and she basically rode it along the side of the building, hitting the iron pylons deliberately in an effort to slow the car down, since the brakes weren't responding quickly enough.

Good on her. I mean the circumstances that made her need to do that SUCK, but that's pretty smart.

Damb, Barb. That's scary. Is there such a thing as a forensic car mechanic, cuz I think that car needs to be examined by one. I'm glad that an accident under those circumstances did not cause worse injuries.

As my therapist put it, I'm not teaching framing, I'm running group therapy all day every day, mostly by myself. They've actually come a long way already. I just hope they all make it through.

I hope that you have plans for preventing burn-out in yourself. Some of my coworkers get extremely frustrated because the progress that they see is not what they are hoping for. Sometimes the reality is that progress is glacial, or the best you can do is to keep a regression as slow as possible. Not all of the young people you will work with will be helped. And some that you help, you won't actually see any of the results. We are responsible for the methods we use, but we are not responsible for the results. To get too caught up in results leads to frustration.

Andi is wise. And smonster, the offer still stands, if you want to talk about support group stuff. Also, sorry I missed you this morning! But our co-workers said they hadn't seen you look so happy and energetic in a long time. Early in the morning after a crappy night's sleep, no less!

Calli, thanks! Maybe I'll take you up on that. I assume the weather didn't prevent your sister's flight from landing.

Barb, how scary. I'm glad she's ok.

Smonster, it sounds like your new job is very difficult. I'm glad you find it rewarding.

Tea:

If any buffistas want to receive a copy of the wedding announcement, please send me your snail mail address. My profile addy is good.