On Monday I had my day scheduled out to do office work. However, as I've learned quite often, planning my day out doesn't always mean it goes as scheduled.
On my way in to the office (okay, really on my way in to get coffee) I got a phone call from one of our volunteers. She said that Erica* needed to do a one-to-one because of what happened over the weekend. Erica has been in an ongoing no-speaking fight with her sister for the last two years. This is anything but simple sibling rivalry. Erica feels her sister gets special treatment from her parents and is fed up with her stuff being stolen from her room. As a result Erica is left feeling trapped in her own house because she is deeply attached to her belongings and can not depend on her parents to help.
As things have grown worse over time Erica finally decided to take things into her own hands by hiding three large chopping knives in her room as self-defense. Her regard for her sister's safety is gone and cannot see past the amount of hurt she feels from her sister to care anymore.
I sat across Erica on Monday, sharing a basket of fries and buffalo wings, and listened to another sad encounter she had with her sister. This time Erica had had enough. Now the issue was no longer keeping the knives in her room because of her sister, but wanting to use the knives to hurt herself. After two hours of talking, I drove Erica home and left that afternoon with three very sharp knives.
I never really know what my day will look like and that's the beauty of working at TreeHouse. Interruptions are looked at as annoying, but I've learned that interruptions can bring great opportunity and growth.
*Name changed to protect confidentiality
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