Chapter 14 - I Returned to Work Without Thomas Giving Me a Job
I applied for the Michigan Family School Collaborative role.
Competitive process.
Three interviews.
Presentation.
Writing sample.
Budget exercise.
I hated the budget exercise on principle.
Then remembered:
adult.
Thomas was not on:
the board.
His foundation did fund:
one Collaborative program.
He disclosed:
our prior relationship
and recused himself from any donor discussion related to:
my candidacy.
That mattered deeply.
I did not want:
rescue.
I wanted:
a fair door.
Margaret gave:
reference.
Two Hawthorne colleagues.
A pediatric psychologist.
Thomas provided a factual letter about:
my work with his family and the resilience program.
Nothing more.
I got the job.
Director of Family Resilience Programs.
Thirty-one partner schools first year.
Then thirty-eight.
Public.
Charter.
Independent.
My team trained:
counselors,
teachers,
administrators
on:
bereavement,
family separation,
school refusal,
caregiver illness,
student reintegration.
Work I understood.
Work I had missed.
The first month was brutal.
I was rusty.
Not intellectually.
Rhythm.
Full-time calendar.
Travel.
Presentations.
Staff management.
At Hawthorne I had known:
everyone.
Now I walked into schools where principals looked at me like:
prove it.
Good.
I needed:
friction.
One evening, I came home after a fourteen-hour day.
I sat on the kitchen floor eating crackers.
Called Margaret.
“I may have made a mistake.”
She laughed.
“Excellent.”
“What?”
“The first sign of returning to real work is remembering it isn’t a redemption montage.”
She was right.
Some days were:
bad.
One school ignored:
recommendations.
One parent accused us of:
interfering.
I hired the wrong program coordinator and had to:
correct it.
Thomas’s children remained in:
my life
carefully.
Not as clients.
Never again.
The professional relationship ended years earlier.
Now, occasionally:
birthday card,
school performance,
lunch with Thomas and kids.
Lily once asked:
“Are you coming back to Hawthorne?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“I have a different job.”
She thought.
“Does it help kids?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
Permission granted.
Ava showed me:
three drawings.
Mason pretended he no longer wanted hugs.
Then hugged me when leaving.
Thomas never said:
I knew you’d come back.
Good.
He said:
“How’s work?”
Like:
an ordinary person.
May you like
That mattered.
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