Work, work, work

I wanted a lazy weekend, unfortunately I had said that I would work at the local "alternative juvenile detention facility" that can house up to six residents. It would be my first weekend there alone as my husband had to be out of town. It was originally his gig but when he didn't want it anymore I said I would do it. I was hoping that there would be no kids and was on a yo-yo Friday afternoon...Noon: No kids-Yay; 4:00: getting a tweaky boy-Darn; 4:30: never mind, he's going to standard detention-Yay; 4:50: however, a girl just came in and blew .037 on the breathalizer so the cops will bring her by at 6:00, Darn, definitely can't follow through with plans for a lazy evening.

I ran home and threw everything I needed together and was unloading just as the police officer brought the 14 year old girl with a tear-stained face in handcuffs. I recognized her as a prior resident and had to fight two different urges- 1) to scold her for being so dumb and 2) to pat her on the shoulder and tell her everything would be ok. Instead I did the intake paperwork, called her mother, got some dinner, and tried to ignore that she was still crying, especially after her mother dropped off some clothes and toiletries.

I'm not completely hard hearted (I'm actually a big softy) but when a kid keeps getting in trouble and doing stupid things and gets caught drinking two days after they got out of detention they need some sternness. The good thing is that I had my dogs with me. They are lab mixes, on yellow and one black. Molly, the yellow one, is an attention hog and loves nothing more than to be petted and also knows when people need her so she was right by the resident's side ready to give comfort. This resident loves dogs so it helped a lot to have one to pet. She wanted to go to bed early but my instructions were to keep her up and productive until standard bed-time at 9:00. My supervisor said, "If she wants to go out and party, let her party in here!"

Having one cooperative female in residence actually made for a fairly easy weekend. I was there once with my husband when there were 5, count them 5, teenage boys. Too much testosterone for this girl! Luckily it was my husband's weekend to work so I could escape.

The rest of this weekend was pretty uneventful, except for my first night doing the alarm system alone and it wouldn't arm. I had to search the house for the open window which turned out to be the room the resident was in. Grrrrr....