Moving On and Growing

I have been working as a full time therapist (yay!). I am a clinician in Triple P, which is an amazing parenting program. However, my last day is Friday. And I start a new full time outpatient therapist job the following Monday. I have not been at my current company for too long, actually it has only been 6 months. It was a very difficult decision for me to decide to leave. If you know me, you know I stick things out. If I make a commitment I will see it out no matter what. However, recently I  have begun realizing that my life is and will only ever be one. I will only live this time and this moment once. Do I want to live these moments somewhere that makes me unhappy and upset? Not really. I have gotten to the point that I can say that I deserve more. I am a great therapist. I love helping people. I love working as a team with other clinicians. I deserve to be at a place that loves their job as much as I do. I also deserve to work somewhere that will treat everyone fairly and where the clinicians respect the company, the government, and their clients. Who will not try to fix something by making up for what the team members are lacking by placing it all on the newest member. You cannot fix a house with a crappy foundation by putting a new roof on it. It just doesn't work that way. I am so thankful for everything I have learned and all of the growth that I have done. I am especially thankful that they have given me the chance to stand up for myself and decide what I want without letting others thoughts and feelings change my decision. I am excited for the new opportunity I am being presented and I am excited to be working with some amazing therapists.

I have had other areas of growth in my life lately. I am not going to go into them, but these last few months have been crazy, amazing, beautiful, difficult, challenging, gratifying, heartbreaking, and butterflies-in-your-stomach inducing. I feel like I am still trying to catch my breath, but I am not complaining. I am so thankful for all of the different opportunities, experiences, and people that I have gotten to meet. Sure it hasn't all been a field of roses, but those difficult times make the great times that much greater.

It is easy to lose yourself in the negative. I did that often. It is a constant process and reminder for myself to look for the good or positive in everything. There is always some positive in any situation if you look hard enough. The positive may not also be in that moment, but that situation may lead to something good.

Christmas 2010

So here to do some back tracking. I left LAX at 1am on the 24th of December. I sat next to the sweetest couple that was retiring to Ecuador. The lady was so sweet and kept asking about my life and my plans. She even woke me up for the meals and the snacks (there goes my sleep right, no she was really sweet and I really appreciated it). They even invited me to Ecuador if I got bored in Colombia. Anyway we exchanged emails so that I can let them know what I decide on Grad School. We parted in Panama with a "Merry Christmas" and a "Good luck!"

Well I arrived in Colombia on December 24th at 12:10pm. Festivities here are ON the 24th. I though, "Hey! What a great idea to get there in time to celebrate Christmas!" WRONG. I landed and couldnt find my baggage recipt to show that it was really mine, geez what a nightmare. Never EVER lose the baggage recipt! I got to customs and they opened everything, asked me questions about it all and then they let me go. Thank goodness my aunt and uncle were waiting for me at the gate (with flowers <3) and we went for lunch (yummy frijoles).

Side note: they told me it was cold so I was in winter boots and a sweatshirt. It was hot.
We then went to another aunt's (Tia Pieti) house in La Ceja. There I tried to sleep, but being Tamayo's "quiet" is not in our vocabulary. So there went my sleep. First was dancing and chatting up with family (since I havent been here in about 1.5-2 years).

 

Then was dinner, followed by the Novena (Christmas prayer), and lastly presents. Presents were HILARIOUS. My cousin Tata and my Tia Angela modeled every piece of clothing and tested out every gift. While my uncle kept singing the same song over and over. My cousins kids, Nicolas and Antonia, were the ones who handed out the gifts to everyone.

Festivities lasted until about 1 am, which would make it over 24 hours that I had descent sleep. So I was looking forward (oh so much) to sleeping in a nice comfy bed. I go to my bed only to find that my cousin passed out there, so where do I get to sleep? On the floor. The nice comfy wood floor. In a room of about 10 people. (Snore, Snore, Talk, Fart) Oh yea! I totally enjoyed that night's sleep (sarcasm). The next morning we stayed at my Tia Pieti's house for a Sancocho (soup) lunch. Then we all went home (finally!!). I went with my Tia Angela and Tio Fernando because this is my home when I come here :). The next week we did some really cool sight seeing, but that's another post...