Must...keep...going... Weekend...almost...here...

So today contained a boatload of drama at the Antrim Girls' Shelter. First of all, two girls left today which automatically equals MEGA-tears...One of them had her birthday today; she turned eighteen and therefore aged out of the system. It was really scary for a while because we didn't know where she was going to go after she left the Shelter. It seemed that no one wanted her. At times, we all wondered if it would come to dumping her and her belongings out on the sidewalk. We were looking into adult shelters for her...but it turns out that she will be going to stay with her stepmother for a while at least. It's really sad...I don't know what is going to become of that girl. She is not prepared to be out in the big bad world all alone. She has the emotional maturity of a six year old. Sad, sad, sad. She drove me up the wall...but it's still sad.

The other source of drama came from the girl who is currently the Evil Incarnate Resident. She is leaving next week and I am practically jumping for joy at the thought. Apparently, she has some sticky fingers and absconded with a nice water bottle that belonged to a staff member. She would not admit that she had done wrong and refused to accept the consequences of her actions...so she went "out of program" which means, you sit all by yourself in a room under staff supervision. It's kind of a complicated situation to describe because it has to do with knowing the layout of the building and the fact that things are in chaos b/c of the move...but she needed to leave the living room where she was ensconced...and it looked as though she was refusing to move. So, Matt, took me aside and told me that we might need to "escort" her into the old office. My heart was kind of like BABOOM because this is code for...We're going to do a SOLVE move on her. ( SOLVE= Strategies Of Limiting Violent Episodes). I had fifteen hours of training last fall in how to deal with situations like getting out of a hairpull, getting out of a choke-hold, how to deal with punches, kicks, bites, and...moving someone who doesn't want to move. I've never had to use any of these moves. And I didn't want today to be my first day. Frankly, I don't want to EVER have to use these things. It's just downright scary. I'm afraid that if I get into a situation that required using a certain move, all sense will flee my head and I will forget everything I learned. So, of course, I nodded placidly, as if I LOVED doing SOLVE moves EVERY DAY and proceeded to follow Matt into the living room. He calmly talked to her about the fact that she needed to come with us to the office. She sat there in stony silence, furiously crocheting on a humongous black and red afghan. When Matt told her that we would 'help' her to move if she didn't come of her own accord, she said, " If you touch me, I'll knock out both of you..." but she still didn't move. So we stepped towards her and were inches from going through with the escort move, and she realized we meant business and got up on her own. Wow. I was praying that she would just get up because I didn't know how we were going to safely do the maneuver as she was sitting on a couch, not a chair like I had practiced last fall. PHEW. So she walked into the office with us. Now this is the office that we have just moved everything out of. It was completely empty except for a chair for her to sit in. So Matt and I stood there, waiting for her to do her points ( accepting her 'negative' points for her earlier behavior) and she kept refusing to do them. So we continued to stand there and she did her little Madame DeFarge act with the scary looking afghan, which she had brought along with her from the living room. Suddenly, the door opened and two strange men walked in. Apparently, they were testing for asbestos and making notes, taking samples etc. I had to sort of stifle hysterical laughter because it must have looked so strange to them: two adults standing in an empty room, doing nothing, watching a tiny 100 pound girl in a chair, crocheting madly. So we stood and stood and stood and the men crawled around and murmured to each other. Matt and I began to make small talk...which progressed into telling stories...He talked about his stepfather-in-law, a hulking Lithuanian, and how this man illegally pumps his septic system out into the woods...and how the aforementioned stepfather-in-law and mother-in-law raise free range chickens and goats...( I don't even WANT to think about the repercussions of those last two facts) and how the sf-in-law kind of LOOKS like a goat...and suddenly, Madame DeFarge bursts out that she wanted to do her points. I wanted to laugh again. Bizarre storytellinged into submission.

It was a weird day. A lot of the girls went on a hike with some other staff members...and we were stuck with the baddies. One of my charges made cookies with green food coloring. Saint Patrick's Day has come and gone, my dear...