No More 5:30am!! : (

Yes, you read that title correctly. And yes, it's confusing and weird. 

 Why? 

Because I feel mixed emotions that last Friday was my last 5:30am shift at work.

I feel super happy that I no longer have to be up at the horrible hour of 4:30am (or as Brittany said it, "in the 4's)  in order to be at work. Looking back, I can't believe that I did that for over a year. I am SO not a morning person!

I also feel a little sad because with changing my shift comes changing where I will be working. I guess the "where" isn't as important as the "who". Let me explain...

For the past year I have been working at Excelsior Youth Center, which is a residential treatment center for teenaged girls who have been abused. I was lucky and got to work with the younger girls, 11 to 13 years old. I arrive at 5:30am and do a bunch of paper work and prepare for the morning. I had to wake up all 11 of the girls, tell them to shower/brush their teeth a hundred times, serve them breakfast, and get them ready for school that day. I guess I should mention that I didn't do this alone, I had wonderful coworkers.

 My shift has always been very structured but the girls always managed to find the time to act silly and make my shift fun. Not to say there weren't a couple of awful mornings when it seemed every single one of them were acting out, but we managed! 

Over the past year I learned to love all of the girls and truly care about their well being as they did mine. I have a couple of favorites that I want so badly to talk about, but since it is a treatment center their names have to remain anonymous. Two girls in particular really touched my heart and I don't think I will ever forget them or the impact they have had on me. It's crazy what a little girl can go through at such a young age and still be sweet, funny, smart, adorable, and pleasant to be around. Those girls are survivors! 

I am still working at EYC, but not with the same girls every day. I will now have a chance to work with all age groups and not at 5:30am! : ) I know it will take getting used to not seeing "my" girls every day, but the days that I do get to work with them will be that much more exciting!

Zerosun, the company Garrett works for, made a video about a year ago for Excelsior so I'm attaching it here. It's a great video and will give you a little better idea of how Excelsior works. Also, it shows just how talented those Zerosun boys are! : )

Excelsior Youth Center from Zerosun Pictures on Vimeo.

Thanks for sticking with me throughout all my babbling. I usually don't write long, pictureless blogs but I felt like I needed to this time. I can't wait to get caught up on your blogs! Hope you are having a great Monday so far!