veterans and beauty parlors

This morning I attended a workshop on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Combat Veterans. The room was filled to capacity. It was almost comical all the things that went wrong. First, we were told that the workshop was at a hotel right off of I-17 at Union Hills Rd. I drove past the address three times. I saw a hotel but it was a different name. Finally I called. The front desk clerk said, "Oh, we changed our name." Nice - very helpful - thanks. So we started late because so many people had the same problem - they kept driving back and forth thinking they must have missed the place.

Then the temperature in the meeting room fluctuated between "Freeze" and "Fry". The microphone the presenter was wearing died several times. The batteries in the presenter's mouse died. We ran out of chairs. There was no water. They didn't have enough books to fill the pre-orders.

Once we got started, however, the information was quite detailed and the presenter was very entertaining. He was a little edgy. There were a couple of times that he skated right up to the very edge of "inappropriate" or "unprofessional". But he was funny and he knew a lot.

It is a pity what our combat veterans have to go through to get treatment. We had a few guys in the room who were combat veterans. They related their own stories of trying to get treatment. A pattern emerged - the VA is full of folks who really care and really want to help and are even skilled caregivers. But the bureaucracy is enough to make veteran and caregiver want to go get a rifle. It is not uncommon for a combat veteran to wait 2-4 YEARS for treatment. In other parts of the country, services are readily available.

I was very impressed by the other workshop participants. They had such diverse backgrounds and came from a multitude of treatment types. Any time I am around a group like this, I become even more convinced that I will return to the field of counseling down the road a bit.

Then at 4 p.m., I went to the beauty parlor. I was there until 7 p.m. Apparently it takes a really long time to make me beautiful. I asked the stylist to take a picture of me once she got all the foils in my hair:

Yes, I know, not everyone can look as spectacular as I do. What can I say?