Seth and Heidi

When I was in middle school I used to fake sick so I could stay home to eat junk and watch Lifetime movies. I don't know if you've watched a Lifetime movie lately, but it seems like they're always about abused women/kids - just sad stories in general. I LOVED these shows and eventually I think they are what inspired me to go into the field of social work/child welfare. So thank you Lifetime channel.

My last day as a social worker for the State of Utah was a week ago today. I had been counting down the days, but when the day actually came, I had mixed feelings about closing that chapter of my life. I got a thank you card from a client the nigth before my last day. These things RARELY happen but it made my day. Or year. Or short two year career.

As much as I complained about this job and really dreaded some days, I now feel like I really did love this job. I realized that I'm passionate about the field of child welfare and WILL be sure to always be involved in it whether working full time, part time, or just volunteering. When I tell people what I do/did, I get the same repsonses: "Oh that's so sad, I couldn't do that"..."That must be so hard"..."I couldn't work with the parents of those kids, I would just want to take everyone's kids away"...okay, you get the point. Seth typically has a optimistic outlook on life and tends to give most people the benefit of the doubt (except SoCal people) and has said about a lot of people, "Everyone is just doing the best that they know how". I've realized through my time with this job, that 99.99% of parents love their children more than anything and really are trying the best that they know how.

With this job, the success stories sometimes seem few and far between, but it is a great feeling watching someone overcome a drug addiction and having their children returned to them, or seeing someone become self-sufficient and seeing what self-confidence can do to improve someone's quality of life.

There are many, many things I will NOT miss about this job...goat poop is the first thing that comes to mind. I'm super grateful for this job though and feel it was the best first real job I could have had right out of school. I don't think any other job would have given me the experience this job gave me.

I know that there is a time and season for everything and that right now isn't the time for me to be furthering my career in this field, but I'll still miss it a little. However, most of my first week of staying home including going on long walks to parks, The Gateway, and beautiful nearby neighborhoods. Sleeping in a little wasn't too bad either. Oh and I get to be home with pretty much the cutest baby I've ever had. AND the majority of the week I've thought, "being home totally rocks".