A piece of my heart

My work day was long and very emotional. I brought a resident to court this morning. After 6 months with us, he made his level 2, got straight A's in school and graduated the program. We knew that he was going to be released and sent home with his mother. I didn't know how emotional I was going to get though.

The judge started out by saying that she rarely sees such a dramatic change in the juveniles that come before her. She praised him for his hard work and his achievements and then talked about our program and how it is the best she's seen. She said that she sees more successes from our program than any other.

Then she asked if I had anything to add. I started to talk but teared up so badly. She said that she could tell that this youth would be really missed by the program and that we were very proud of him. I could only nod. I apologized for getting emotional and told her that I didn't expect that to happen but she smiled and said it showed how deep our commitment was to doing what we were supposed to do.

When we left the courtroom it was a hugfest in the hall. (Yeah! I could finally give this resident some big tight hugs without worrying about "crossing boundaries".) His mom and very pregnant girlfriend also gave me hugs and thanked me over and over.

I know that this job is tough and some of these kids take a piece of my heart with them when they go, but it's worth it.

So, that was my day. I'm emotionally and physically drained right now but there's also a sense of accomplishment and a feeling that I'm doing something right with my life.