Tomorrow is Friday :)
Tomorrow Luke comes home :)
We have a ton to be Thankful for.
I know we're past the whole "holiday, I'm so thankful for everything including nose hair" season - but...truthfully, we should have those moments more often than just Thanksgiving through Christmas - I think. No, don't stop reading - this will be good, I promise.
I work in property management... which keeps things.... interesting (to say the least). There are days when I come home wondering HOW a resident can act the way they act... or, sometimes, smell the way they smell. It's definitely not an easy job - being involved in something as important as an individual's living arrangements comes with heavy dealings. My position involves training other employees, but a big part of my job is also being a buffer between the maintenance/office teams and the resident. I love my job - but I left there today choking back some tears... and desperately needing a shower.
We've been installing fire extinguishers into alllll of the apartments this week - so we've seen things. This also gives us an excuse to check out the properties in detail and do an inspection. We've seen nasty, unclean homes. We've seen spotless, obviously recently bleached homes. We've seen people attempt to hide their pets. We've seen one particular bathroom completely decorated in Dora the Explorer gear. We've seen strange displays of "art". We've seen kitchens with dinner on the counter from 3 nights ago (or more). We've seen bugs. Big ones.
It's easy to forget as a very blessed, very fortunate person that some people are really just trying to get by. The whole "put yourself in their shoes" thing comes into play often with this job, but it becomes real once you walk into some of these homes.
I inspected an apartment today that I know belonged to a family. 2 little girls... both probably under 4 and a little boy. This is a 2 bedroom apartment. The living room had a pull-out sofa bed (this is the first room I could see... my immediate thought was "oh, they've got more people living here than they have documented on the lease"... because that's just where my mind goes first) - so, pull-out sofa bed and a small table. Nothing in the dining room. Nothing in the kitchen except a sippy-cup. One bedroom had a mattress on the floor... and that's when I saw a little pink tricycle in the corner of an empty bedroom....
I know we're all dealt different lives and situations (this was my best attempt to not say cards... cliche and all). I also believe that not everyone is equipped to survive all situations, meaning: some people may be be given rougher lives because Someone greater knows they can pull through... when others cannot. It's the only way I can rationalize it. Yes, I have to try...
It's just... I came home from my really great job to my fully furnished, warm home. I know not everybody gets that. It's easy to get sucked into being greedy and materialistic (I'm willing to admit that it is for me. I definitely struggle with it)... it's not that I forget how privileged I am. But some days my eyes seem to be open wider than normal. Today is one of those days.
Not to take away from the above, but I have to include this:
One apartment had a giant punching bag in the living room and I REALLY wanted to kick it as soon as I saw it... but I maintained my professionalism and did not... UNTIL: my maintenance guy forgot his drill and had to go back out to get it... as soon as he rounded the corner out the door I gave that punching bag my best kick.
I felt pretty smug. I also felt like I needed one of these punching bags!
I turned around to see the camera that the resident keeps in the upper living room corner. I waved. Caught.
Just then, my maintenance team member walked in to catch me waving at the ceiling. So I had to explain myself.
Busted.
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