I got out of bed in time to go to lunch with Mark and his friends from Rochester who were in town, before heading into work for a few hours. While at Cafe 59 (our fall back lunch spot) I ran into an old friend from my former place of employment, her husband (who works at the same place that Mark does) and their 18 month old daughter. Soooo good to see her. Makes me wonder where I’ve been? I ran away from that job and everyone associated with it, at first because I was afraid of what people thought of me…

You see, I was first assaulted by residents then a few months later wrongfully terminated, fought to get my job back and then dutifully put in my resignation immediately after getting my position back. Bold move. But I had no other choice…the whole situation makes me sick when remembering. I lost a fair amount of faith in the world of *do-good* agencies and felt as if I was naive all along thinking I would somehow make a difference. A tough, dark time for me. So I hid from it all, including good friends and acquaintances I had along the way.

And later, I found out that after word got out about what I did..no one was mad at me for telling the evil adminstration people to shove it. (I used not quite those words though…) However, I still stayed away. Easier to stay away then to confront and explain. And deal? Sigh… I was confronted with this issue last Fall when my Junior League class had a volunteer project in the very cottage I worked at for over four years at evil agency. (Assault also occured in that cottage.) I couldn’t bring myself to face the place. I knew I would run into people I knew, and I didn’t want to reconnect. So I hid once again. (Actually, thinking about going back there brought me to the verge of a panic attack which meant, I physically couldn’t go either.) Yet today? I feel like I need a date with these old friends ASAP. I miss them.