citrus

made me smile today...

an elderly, bhutanese men.

a jewish 6 year old with big brown eyes.

the middle eastern man playing brahms at GNC.

i wish it would be ethical for me to post a picture of the wrinkly, stocking capped old man i visited today. he had a few teeth and sweetly invited us in for chatting.

so many rich, interesting and complex experiences today with my clients...

...trying to figure out if the domineering aunt (who sponsored a younger, pregnant wife whose husband has schizophrenia and has two kids) is trying to rip the family off, or is acting in line with her collective values or...?

...trying to tell the young wife that i am going to show her how to use the bus when she a.) doesn't want to go and b.) speaks three words in english (we didn't end up going because i couldn't drag her outside in her flip-flops and no coat).

...discovering a bit more of the depths of potential mental illness in one of my favorite burmese refugees. how do you encourage her to do therapy when so much is lost in translation? how do you respond when her answer to, "How do you handle stress?" is "I think about killing myself." how do you not feel guilty that you didn't connect the dots earlier?

but, in the midst of the challenges, there are the simple joys of toothless grins and generous gifts of a single fruit left on your desk by a client (if you can identify what this, please let me know :) it was to squatty to be an orange).