Honor bestowed upon me & Goodbyes

Today was the celebratory pizza lunch for all those who participated in the MARR basketball bracket. In case you have never read my blog before today or have not talked to me in the past month, you need to know that yours truly here won the gall darned bracket- oh yeah baby!!! Midwest rules! Anyway, early in the morning, Bill, my supervisor and bracket organizer extrodinaire, told me that he "had something for me at lunch" with a gleam in his eye. I also have been told that the winner gets carried around the building on someone's shoulders. This is what happens when you work with a bunch of crazy guys.

Anyway, as I went throughout the morning I sort of got nervous. What in the h_ll would they do to me? Plus I spent a lot of the morning with Janet, our family program director, putting packets together. She said that one of her first days at MARR was going to this pizza lunch and she remembered them carrying the winner around on their shoulders. Oh Nelly. I was pretty convinced that was a hoax until then.

What happened? Fortunately just a lot of pizza eating, and the awarding of a sweet trophy that Bill made. It was a coffee can spray painted black that said "MARR Bracket Winner" in white writing and a sweet toy basketball super glued to the top. It was an honor. I had to make a speech, but it stunk. Believe it or not I don't do well with spontanous speeches in front of people.

It was on display for the rest of the afternoon, but my hall-mate Rick who is across from me kept stealing it. He's just jealous.

I also had my last supervision with Bill this afternoon. It was really, really great. I know I have gotten closer to being an excellent clinician because of his guidance and listening ear. We did our "goodbyes" today, which is a MARR tradition. Basically, when a patient is transitioning into another phase and will be working with a new set of patients, they say "goodbye" to each of the guys in the group by saying their name and individually encouraging them and appreciating them without giving words of advice. You end it by saying, "and with that I say goodbye" and then the person does it back to you. It's really powerful especially in a group setting. The staff do it too when someone is leaving. It's one of my favorite things. So it was a really encouraging day, and my heart now is very full =).