once in a blue moon.
they requested. we talked. it was a go.
they wanted to go out for dinner. we had received a voucher earlier in the week in order to take them out. tonight was the night. we told them to be ready to go at 5:30. at 5:30 all three of them were walking out the door. a pure miracle in itself, getting three teenage girls out the door all at once. we drove, the radio loud, the volume set on an even number so our girl with slight ocd wouldn’t have any unnecessary anxiety. and they sang, and laughed.
and they were ‘normal’.
i cringe to use that word. it’s a dangerous word to throw around. but very often the girls don’t feel ‘normal’. living in a group home is not what most people would consider ‘normal’.
we got the restaurant and one of the girls called me her sister very loudly. they joke about it, but i know secretly they wish we would go along. i am her staff and that immediately brings us back to not being ‘normal’. dinner is good, the girls check out the waiters and make comments.
and then to the movies. they prop up their feet on the chairs in front of them in a defiant teen way and settle in. we get through the whole movie without any issues.
we head back home, the girls sing along in the van again and i have a moment.
a moment where i forget about the times these very girls and the ones before them have cursed me out, threatened me, and slammed doors in my face. and i remember that they’re just teenage girls trying to be ‘normal’.
@3 months ago with 1 note#group home #teenage girls #OCD #normal
