January 31--Ninety-nine red balloons

[zyzyly]

For some reason, when I woke up at 4:45 this morning, after a good night's sleep, that dumb red balloons song was in my head. The German "Luftballons" version. It ran through my head as I brushed my teeth, showered, shaved, and sipped my coffee. Four hours later and it's still there.

I'm at the hospital with my students. It is, for me, the second easiest day of clinical, as the students are pretty much just following a nurse around, and don't need me for much of anything. I wandered around a bit, but now I am down in the corner of the cafeteria furiously typing away. The easiest day of clinical is the last day, when my students are doing everything with the nurses, and don't need me anymore.

I got a text from one of my nieces yesterday asking if I had some time, and so we met for lunch. It's the one who moved to Arizona last year, but ended up moving back, and I haven't seen her since. I met her at a restaurant, and as soon as we sat down she burst into tears.

She has been with some loser guy, and just left him. I guess he was the reason she moved away in the first place, and also the reason she moved back. He is abusive, and she has found it difficult to escape his gravitational pull.

We talked for a good long while I offered to let her stay with us, but she is back with her parents, for the time being. The guy sounds kind of crazy, and I hope she can stay away from him. I gave her the contact information for a place in town that can offer her some counseling and assistance.

I'm still residually crabby, but keeping it in check.

Comments

[luscious_purple]

I hope your niece keeps in touch with you, especially if things get worse with her situation. She may need to have a not-parents place to stay if the abusive jerk tracks her down there. You and she don't have the same last names, do you?

(Speaking from personal experience in my young-adult life here...)

[threemeninaboat]

I'm glad you were there for her.

[anita_margarita]

I really hope she doesn't go back to him. I am glad you're there for her.

[zyzyly]

Yes, that’s kind of what I told her. We do not share last names. She didn’t return my text yesterday, so....

[zyzyly]

Me too, and I hope it helped.

[zyzyly]

I kind of suspect she will, but hope not.

[elainetyger]

The picture is gorgeous.

I was a huge fan of Dr Demento back in the day and so your earworm comes to me as this instead:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRpcEFJL1_8