being me

i really like my blog better when each post is preceded by an image – so i’m going post a new photo every day even if it means going back in my photo archives and finding ones i haven’t posted before. they may or may not be related to the writing of the day, so don’t look for any pattern in what photos i choose. the one above is from my recent trip to the desert with aaron – all day i kept trying to get a photo of one of the hundreds of butterflies alight around the canyons, resting on a flower or something – but was unsuccessful. upon returning from our hike i noticed several dead ones stuck to the grill of our rental car – and there it was – the butterfly shot i wasn’t really looking for.

so (in case you were looking for the update) – the meeting this morning turned out not to be a termination meeting, but a “fact-finding” hearing…. meaning there are allegations being made and we had to respond to them. it’s a very complicated set of circumstances, but essentially i did some listening, a little advocacy, and followed-up with a dose of advice-giving. then i got back to my desk and had 2 other union-related (stewarding) phone calls, and then the director involved in the first case came to see me at my desk (about the hearing we had just had, which digressed into a discussion about work and the future of the public service). all of this made me late to meet my friend megan o. for lunch.

all this running around (and too much coffee) has made me a bit hyper in any case…. i’m waiting for the mid-afternoon crash which hasn’t come yet.

normally my stewarding load is not so high – but at the moment i have four cases which is a full-time job. even though we have other union reps in the building, i seem to be the one people come to most often which i chalk up to my ability to make even really stressed out people laugh (it’s my special superpower). that, and i sometimes even win my cases, which seems to inspire confidence in my ability (funny that).

today at lunch, i realized how crazy-full my life has gotten again, and how even though it makes me a tad manic at times – i much prefer to live like this than i have been for the past year and a half…. i get to be me again 🙂

i have lots of other stuff to post about but i also need to get some work done before i leave today….