x1: Bonnie (as part of the miniseries "The birthdays")

To kick myself off, I am going to go with themes for a while. It saves having to think up new people and wondering what sort of subliminal messages I am sending myself. (I really do wonder about that).

Most people don't know many people with the same birthday as them. I happen to know quite a few, partially I think because my birthday is on April Fool's Day. So this will be my first theme.

Before I started college, I needed to do some volunteer work. I volunteered with Bonnie, and it eventually evolved into a full time job until I started college. She was one of my first examples of what a social worker was like, and a really big influence in my professional life. She taught me that the most important part of your work with clients is the relationship you have with them, that a social worker has to be willing to work in a variety of roles, and that paperwork is one of the hated but necessary parts of the profession. One of the things I appreciated most about her was how quick she was to show her appreciation for a job well done and how she managed to make everyone feel included and special, no matter how apparently insignificant their job was.

When I worked with her, I was excited about social work. I didn't know a lot, but I was excited about it. I miss that.