Pulling Back from the Edge (just in time)

Big, big news... I got the assignment with SRJC in Petaluma!!! I have already started a little bit of training and will complete the core of training next Tuesday and Wednesday when I observe three different Counselors and hopefully learn a lot from each one. Then I officially start on the 21st.

Not only did I get the assignment, but I was given *significantly* more hours than I expected to get as an adjunct Counselor. I will be working Tuesday and Thursday 9-4:30pm and Wednesday and Friday from 9 - 2:30pm, for a total of *24 hours*! I expected 16 hours maximum, so this is a huge difference in monthly salary of over $1750. Gah! I had not actually calculated that cumulative number before. So, yeah, huge difference.

Plus, I am going to try and continue my 15 hours, for now, at the non-profit. I will work there all day Monday and 3.5 hours on Wednesday and Friday. Wish me luck. I am a little scared about maintaining my energy level with this schedule, but I think it is worth trying to make this big push to catch up financially and then create a decent savings cushion over the next few months before a child is placed with me.

Oh my goodness, the thought of not having quite so tight a budget feels so wonderful. My time will be super tight now, though...but my thought is that once a child is placed with me, I can drop or cut back on the non-profit hours. They have so far not been okay with me working from home - even though they said they would, I'm getting mixed messages - but maybe if push came to shove, they would say yes, at least for a while. If not, I may need to leave, but I am taking it one step at a time.

I have an anecdote to share that made me think... the other day at the non-profit, the new program coordinator and I were talking about this idea that she brought up in our staff meeting about taking some of the clients out for social "field trips," like to movies or dinner or coffee shops, etc. She said in a tone of amazement, "For our clients, this is their only social outlet - can you imagine?! They look forward to coming and these are their only friends!" Something like that. And I thought, well, hmm. It's not like I have a big social circle and lots of friends outside work. I get a lot of my connection right now from my work at the non-profit and it means a lot to me. So I guess I'm a lot like our clients! I didn't say this, but I thought it. I felt a little like a loser but then I also felt grateful and understood all the more why it would be sad for me to have to leave there right now.

So I'm glad I don't have to give that up right now and put all my eggs in the SRJC basket, which is somewhat unknown at this point. When I met with the Director of the program last week, she emphasized how it's a tight-knit community and everyone has each other's backs. Also, the students often have serious issues come up during the course of the day and there is a good amount of crisis management we do for them. This actually sounds a little like the non-profit, and the community aspect is very appealing to me.

The downside was that she said I may have to "chase students around" to meet with them until they get to know me because meeting with us is voluntary. Except for adding and dropping classes and I'm glad we at least have that leverage to connect with them! It sounds like I will be visiting classes and spending time in "study lab" where they work on homework each day to help them get to know me and vice versa.

I've definitely been scrambling to meet my landlord's deadline, including taking out a line of credit, but I think I've managed to pull the Winnebago of my life back from the cliff's edge. The next 6 to 8 weeks will be pretty tight until I get my first full paycheck from SRJC, but I'm feeling relief and hope. Looking forward to refocusing on completing the final steps of my home study.