I just realized..

..that birthday month is almost over! I can't believe it. Even as I type this I am yelling it to Ed, who has reassured me that it is not YET over. Whew.

So I am officially no longer an employee of APTC :))))))) The last couple of days there were actually a bit harder than I anticipated..after wanting to quit for so long, I thought it would be easy to leave.

On Thursday they surprised me with flowers, lunch, chocolate cake, and a paperweight/clock/thing that says 'APTC 2006-2009 We will miss you!' ..and 'Carpe Diem Your Time is Now' ...it was nice :) On Friday the billing department showed up with BBQ and a chocolate cake..is there a pattern here?

Dr. Ahr also decided to pull a prank on me..punk. On my first day one of the therapists there prank called me, pretending to be CRAZY..or neurotic, frantic, whatever is technically correct ;) Dr. Ahr thought I should go out the way I came in, "bookends" she said. It was pretty elaborate, involving phone calls from other therapists, lawyer friends, and her younger brother. They had me going for a good 3 hours or so. I should have known.

Later I see on Facebook where Dr. Ahr has changed her status to "Practical joke on April: Success" ..other therapists comment on the status, as do I, to which she responds that you should "never get involved in mind games with a shrink" :)

I learned so much there..about the clinical side of psychology, including assessment, therapy, the business aspect, etc..but also about people, compassion, professionalism. Working there helped me decide what I want to do today, and I am so, so grateful for that.

Monday I met with Dr. Neff, who I will be working for over the summer :) It was great to be back on campus, but with a purpose this time. I go in for training on Friday, and start running my first couples in a couple of weeks. They mostly run them on the weekends, which means I'll have the week to work for Dr. Sherry and help out a few of the therapists I was working with on their dissertations. All paid work :) Ed usually has off during the week and works the weekends too, so we're getting to spend a lot of time together. It's fabulous :)

I'm not even going to count the smiley faces in this post, because I know there are a ridiculous amount. It's all smiles over here :)