They come in 3’s

Some time back, many years ago, my sister told me about a theory. She said that “they die in 3’s” referring to celebrities. Rock starts or movie starts or profession athletes, it appears that the 3 seem to die very close to each other. For example, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendricks, Jim Morrison. Sure, lots of holes in that theory, but after she said that, I have seen it happen every time. Any psych major knows if you look hard enough you can find what you are looking for in anything. For me, ‘bad’ things happen in 3’s. For example, yesterday. The first I already mentioned with my coverage falling through for my trip to Jamaica. The ‘bad’ part is that the person I picked-out had a bad wrist break and subsequently, she has had what appears to be the worst possibility for her with this. She was been struggling with her recovery from this for over a year now. She was supposed to be released to work Monday, but the pin in her wrist has a screw that came undone and it is cutting into one of her tendons when she moves her thumb. My back up to her is turning herself into rehab for drug and alcohol addictions this weekend. Us former addicts have a pretty easy time seeing that in others. For me, it is normally instant in seeing it, even if they have been clean and sober for a while. I did not see it in her, or maybe I did not take the time to notice or maybe I just choose to over-look it. This is actually a relapse for her and just happened a few months ago. I have not seen her during this time. Last night, she called me at midnight to talk. I told her I would help her out and that I had been there as both an employee and a patient. She told me about all kinds of bad stuff that happened to her when she was a kid. She told me about how low she has sunk and some of the stuff she has done in the past few months. Wow. Okay, so after all that, there was 2 others that happened yesterday. One of my former clients who is an 18 year old female, was living with her uncle. Someone set their house on fire, killing her uncle! She was not home that night. When I first heard it, I was in shock. He was one of the nicest, sweetest guys I had ever met and to think he had to die that way. When I first met him, we had an instant connection. He was extremely concerned about his niece, but he just did not have a clue about what to do. He never had his own children then suddenly he inherits a 17 year old. He was doing the best he could do for her. I had just saw him a few weeks ago. After that shock wore off a little, I began to feel very guilty. Could I have done something to prevent that? Could I have been a better provider? Even if I was still her provider, and technically speaking I was, I could not have done anything. She dropped me as a provider, but she never pick-up anyone else after me. This was in September when she dropped me. In my professional opinion, and the opinion of others that assist her, she just does not want the services. She would never answer the phone or call me or any of the others back. She would not answer her door for me or anyone else. She would not show for any of the team meetings or any of her other appointments. I know it sounds bad, but in this business, you have to try and if they refuse to do the work, you have to move on to those who will do their work and want the services. It is their right to refuse services. Even though we all know it is in her best interest to have the services, we can not force her to do them. Being the type of person I am, I feel like I could have done more, even though I did all I could and I have no idea what more would be in this case. Then, number 3. D, my 9 year old who’s photo is on here, mother called me last night. Social Services is doing an investigation for possible psychical abuse. That was just shocking! E was in a panic. E is one of the “good parents.” To begin with, D can not walk very well. She has had tons of surgery to help this and it has gotten better, but she has to wear braces. They help, but D has lots of problems with her balance. When I first began working with D 2 years ago, she could not walk on her own. She fell down constantly trying to be a ‘normal’ kid with walking. D bruises very easily. Her bruises look far worse on her than the average person. Her legs used to be covered in bruises from her falling and these huge braces she had that went all the way up to her hips. So, today her mother has to call all these people and get all this straightened out. This type of stuff is why most people in this business will not work with kids. Too many people making too many incorrect and exaggerated assumptions. We are all guilty until we can doubly prove our innocence and then after that we are marked for life. Yes, I am glad that we have a better system these days, but it has gone to the opposite extreme. So, maybe I will be getting a phone, as well.