Big Day

Today’s the big day at work. People are going to be traipsing through the office all day long. My office leads of the party with my quarterly board meeting. Next is the Executive Committee for the larger organization with whom we share the office. Then later it’s what I am calling the “end game”. Staff at the Developmental Council is having a farewell Tea for the boss—a space and time where people in the local industry can come by and pay their respects to the going director. It’s going to be a full day---I gotta go.

I survived another board meeting! It’s over, done , fini…The board was in this morning for my quarterly board meeting. Our numbers are down but we reported and the folks seemed OK with the results if not pleased with the colored graphs or pie charts, colored materials adds a great deal to any meeting especially a board meeting. We even had a decent turn out and those who were here asked poignant and durable questions and gave sterling advice on what we, as an information line might do to better assist their individual and supporting agency. We run a quick tight meeting. We rarely go over an hour cover all the bases serve candy, never fruit or bagels and lots of color and get the players out of the door. Now I need to cobbler together minutes from this meeting and send the minutes and the other hand outs to the board members who did not show and then I am basically done until next meeting which is the first Tuesday.

Executive committee is the organization al group that guides or leads the larger body of the developmental disability Council. The group meets a couple of weeks ahead of the council and supposedly irons out the agenda and topics they plan to cover in the meeting. The meeting is fairly dossal behind closed doors. I was surprised when a thunder storm of noise came from the room, I tried to understand what was going on but could not make anything definitive out. I think this is shades of things to come to this cozy little office.

This week is the bosses last week and today is the openhouse, the special time when the public can show up pay their respects and get something to eat. Looks like small sandwiches cheese cubes, assorted vegetables and new this year is white chocolate covered strawberries. A small presentation of the engraved vase, a few tears and the opening of the chowline. Many of the consumers we serve of course are DD and many where here to pay their respects and to eat. They ate and ate and even that the caterer made too many finger sandwiches and vetagbles. Now, staff is bagging the leftovers and sending the leftovers home with the consumers, who are savvy enough to now if they wait round long enough they will what is left over. So there are some pretty faces leaving with bags of all the above.

The open house is essentially a living funeral. There are folks from private non profits from all over the valley coming to bid my boss goodbye. Folks from State government and private industry who in some way has been touched by the director and which her well. She stand in the reception line, with her family, shakes hands and gives hugs and watches the clock. She leaves town in less then a week to begin her new life.