On Friday, we said goodbye to one of our residents who has been with us for 11 months. As we were standing outside (staff and a few of the kids), the transporter was watching us all give hugs and well wishes. Some kids teared up, tears were shed by the one leaving, and many hugs were exchanged. The transporter, who had since gotten into the car, rolled down the window and said to me, “I have NEVER seen this before, and I have been transporting for a long time.” She motioned to everyone hugging and then said, “This is real nice. Especially for a group home. Ya’ll must do good work.”
It’s really the small things—the things we don’t even think about. Hugs and tears when saying goodbye, those last “I love you” and positive words despite wanting to pull your hair out because of how they’ve been acting, the waves goodbye from the driveway, all those normal things I couldn’t imagine NOT doing, and here we have a transporter who has never seen that from any group home exit before.
It’s things like this that really set CAPA apart 🩵🩵
