31 for 21: Best of Both Worlds

*I've joined a blogging challenge for the month of October: Blog every day in October in honor of National Down Syndrome Awareness Month (Down syndrome is medically defined as Trisomy 21, and there are 31 days in October, hence the name 31 for 21). My posts will not necessarily be about Down syndrome, but I am writing as a person who 1) loves many people w/Down syndrome and other disabilities and 2) desires for others to be able to see what I see: remarkably unique people with much to offer to the world*

Exhausted tonight so we'll see how this blogging thing goes...I'm getting in just under the wire on day 12.

For any readers who don't know, I have two jobs: a full-time one as a day program supervisor for adults with disabilities, and a part-time one as a music therapist for kids with disabilities.  In job #1, I supervise a room of 16 clients and 6 staff.  In job #2, I do 1:1 sessions with 7 different "kids" (ages 8-20) with disabilities.

I love both jobs:

In job #1: It's nearly always extremely busy and a little bit chaotic.  There are nearly always several people at a time requesting or demanding my attention.  And while this gets exhausting, in a lot of ways I love it.  I love that it is impossible to get bored. I love that there is always something different, that no day is the same.  I love the idea of working together with my staff members to achieve good for our clients.  I love watching my clients interact with each other.  I love how much I laugh.

In job #2: I get one person at a time.  And it's awesome.  It's especially startling when I go straight from one job to the other (which is typically 4 days per week).  After 8 straight hours of chaos, I enter someone's quiet living room or bedroom or basement and sit with one person and sing a hello song.  Don't get me wrong: things don't always stay quiet and simple.  But I have this awesome freedom to devote 100% of my attention to that one person, to not feel a need to rush off in ten different directions.

In both jobs: I'm so thankful for the chance to spend real, substantial amounts of time with these individuals.  I missed this desperately when my full-time job was group home supervision.  Job #1 gives me 8 straight hours a day in a room with them.  Job #2 gives me focused time with 1 at a time.  And there is so much fruit from both of these scenarios.  One of my little music therapy clients was 4 when I started with him...and he just turned ten this week!  What fun to watch him become who he is.

It's hard having two jobs.  It'd be nice to work fewer hours, to be less tired.  But if there was some magic wand waved that made money grow on trees and two jobs not necessary, I'd be giving up something pretty amazing if I gave either of these jobs up.