40 Years of Memories....

This is a half smile and half crying. My daughter gave me this book for my retirement with pictures and messages from people I’ve worked with through the years. I knew they were working on something but I wasn’t sure exactly what. If you wrote a message THANK YOU!!! This is priceless. I seriously cried and laughed for an hour. It made me so thankful for the career I’ve had and the work i was blessed to do. But most importantly it reminded me of how many amazing people I got to know, be supervised by, supervise, etc. Each one of you touched my heart. It made me almost want to return to work. But only if I could attend meetings and roll my eyes (do you know how many people said something about that?!?), laugh and talk and listen and cry, and go out to lunch. If you hear of anything like that let me know. You are all my people and the best part of my career; thank you Tulare and Kings County people. You’re the best. And thanks to my daughters for putting this together! Best gift ever.

Buuuuttttt humor me a little. So many very nice things were said in this retirement book and these were nice too but i have to share some of the funny things. I won’t say who said them unless they want to out themselves.

“I remember thinking, I need to get this report filed by 3:00 and this woman is f&$@ing crazy!” (Yes, I’m the crazy one!)

”Leaving out the story that led up to this,,, I thought to myself, oh my goodness, Ronda is such a badass!”

“In management meetings I could always count on Ronda for a smile and a laugh. The same could be said for an eye roll and a hilarious remark whispered in my direction.”

“Funny story about Ronda and maybe why I relate to her so much is her lack of filter at times.” (Leaving out the example. I do still have a reputation to uphold.)

“But no one is perfect; she was also wild, dramatic, and nosey at times. LMAO”.

“Ronda, my original Gangster CPS Road Dog. We were quite the team. Truth be told sometimes we were more like Dumb and Dumber but we got the job done and we always tried to do what was right. My ride or die chick.”

“My most favorite memory is making fun of people in our profession. We really are crazy. We also make fun of people in our church every time we get together because our church people are nuts too.”

“I have and will always miss your facial expressions at meetings when someone would say something foolish.” (Two counties, two different jobs. I’m just throwing this in to make a point.)

“My fondest memories will always be her ability to make me laugh in a moments time. She did not hold back when she thought a young man was handsome and the possibility of me being able to catch a young handsome man. She also cracked me up when she told the story of one of Randy’s extremely handsome doctors and being completely caught off guard when she met the doctor in person.” Oh Dr Chaundry!

There are so many great stories including me getting a carload lost at a conference in Sacramento and scaring them just a little with my driving, my lack of direction or assistance to those who took on the driving, staff jumping out of a box and scaring the bejibies out of me, mistaking a sheep for a Emu and then a Llama, setting a parent straight in a staffing - (the worker said I told her off but that’s not true haha) getting mad at staff for throwing away my expired cream cheese, being the first person after her hubby to find out one of my staff was having TWINS, stealing water from behind the desk at a conference, and asking my one gay contact in the county for a list of all the LGBT resources - it’s really a funny story,

There are SO many heartfelt words that I can't even begin to quote them. They touched my heart. But if you’re still with me I’m going to end with the one entry from a former client who I stayed in touch with. THIS is what makes this work all worth it. Please don’t think I’m tooting my own horn cause EVERY social worker has these stories. It’s just what meant the very most to me. “How could I have known the day I met you would change my life forever? I will never forget how I despised you, hated you! How in the world would I have known you would become my greatest ally? My personal cheerleader? You came into my life like a bomb. You protected my children from me. You took my babies, the only thing I loved enough to stop using drugs. I quit that very day. You changed my life for the better. You were tough, you did your job, better than anyone else and as a result, I became a decent human. You offered much needed support during the most difficult time in my life. YOU are the reason I’m alive, healthy, happy and so in love with my life and who I am. You are the most amazing, strong, powerhouse of a woman I’ve ever met. Enjoy your retirement and I thank God every single day for the gift of meeting you.”

And THAT is why we do the work we do. For the success stories like this. Thanks for listening to me. Retiring has been more difficult than I imagined but this book and all the messages helped me to put meaning and laughter and tears to the people I’ve known and the experiences I’ve had. I don’t regret any of it.