Changes

 A couple of weeks ago a friend of Lee-Anne's family passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. She was only sixty and passed from a heart attack with no prior health concerns. Last weekend we went to her funeral.

I wasn't particularly close to her but I did get to meet her. It was at Lee-Anne's parents 40th anniversary. We were sitting at the same table and chatted a lot. I remember being warned about her wicked sense of humour and being worried about getting roasted. But when I met her I found that she was more the type to get information on you and do "bits" like a stand-up comedian. She teased but it made you feel included and "in" on the joke, not bullied like I felt people had prepared me for.

Lee-Anne's parents were close enough to her that they read a passage from the Bible at the funeral ceremony. She was going to be invited to our wedding this September.

We're going to dedicate a spot with her picture so that she'll be with us on the day posthumously. There's a couple of other people that we'll include with that.

In other news, my boss just retired. He'd been working for our agency for thirty years. His first twenty-three were in the position I presently have, and the last seven were as a manager. As a branch of Extend-a-Family, we're a pretty small team of just seven people, so whenever there's a staff change it feels like a big shift. 

Obviously when the person leaving is the manager, that feels even more significant. We know who's taking his role though. It's the person on our team with the most seniority and we all trust her, so hopefully the transition will be smooth.

We'll still need a new employee to take the position that the new boss is leaving. Lee-Anne's joked about applying, since she recently finished a paid internship and is looking for work. I think that would be awkward.

Two weeks ago I taught a Safe Management session. Over the pandemic it was sometimes impossible to teach the course due to lockdowns so it was removed as a requirement. There were times when we were allowed to do the training, but we weren't able to generate enough interest as long as it wasn't required.

During this time, I provided some really awkward virtual trainings for the WALES team (my team) and the Summer Program, and I did one in-person session for WALES.

This was the first time back teaching the general public though. There are usually three instructors at the agency, but the two that aren't me quit during the pandemic. We hired two more people, but only one of them has had an opportunity to teach. It was for the in-person WALES session, and since she used to be on that team, the pressure was off.

Now it is required again, and the pressure was on. The other facilitator had been hired and trained nearly a year ago, and this was her first time teaching. It's almost time for her to recertify as a trainer and she just taught her first course.

It went fine. Usually we host the training once every three months, but because we have such a backlog, we need to host trainings monthly for a bit.

In other news, my Christmas gift for Lee-Anne arrived: