Building It All from Scraps by Beverly Ann Kessler

Author:Beverly Ann Kessler [Kessler, Beverly Ann]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781469109183
Publisher: Xlibris
Published: 2011-04-21T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Despite issues in other areas, Jordan was developing some good relationships in the office. She quickly made friends among the staff there, and she had lunch with them whenever schedules permitted or weather dictated. Now that winter was over and spring was nearly at its close, there would be no more car groundings or other unplanned interruptions of her field days. This worked against her, because Jordan used this free time to help catch up on her phone conferences, and to organize her desk. She usually did her paperwork as she watched TV at home each night. Most of the staff did, actually, although they would never admit it! There was just no way around it! Once she set foot in the office, she was caught in a spider’s web of competing demands and prioritized emergencies. There were no extrications until the job was done! She dared not report for a half day’s work. If she had a doctor’s appointment or maybe a night out with friends, she was smart to take the full day off. Otherwise, she would have to cancel her plans, because she’d just be stuck there at the job!

She learned to put her own life on hold, so that other families might survive. She learned to live for the weekends. And she looked forward, with great anticipation, to the weeklong vacation that Carolyn had planned with her. It shouldn’t have been a surprise that Jordan was given only part of that time off. She had least seniority on the unit, and was scheduled to testify on a case. She accepted these decisions stoically, knowing that she would at least be going home each night to the woman that she loved. But even so, she could not share her objections with the other staff! She only told them that a friend was vacationing at her home for the week. They could not possibly know what that really meant to her.

She felt badly about it. Yet, she could not share—even with the other social workers—the deepest, the most loving relationship that anyone could hold and treasure. She accepted this as part of the work culture. No one really shared their personal lives with their co-workers. They learned to leave their personal stuff at home! It sort of came with the diploma. But for Jordan, it was different. She was leaving more than her personal life there—she was leaving a whole part of her personality at home! There could be no compromise. There were other gay people in the office. She could sense them, but she would never approach them. She was not prepared to reveal herself to anyone! She rationalized this as a survival tactic, a strategy validated by Jan and Betty on more than one occasion! Yet she often felt ghostlike as she sauntered through the office. She had dimensions of time and space, but she had no person—at least not one that she could share. The other staff members were intrigued by her! Jordan saw

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.