Have some time?

As the mother of a kindergartner, I was anxious to get involved with school. When we moved to Tyler, there were only a few commitments I would make within the first year...1. seeking a church home 2. school involvement 3. purchasing a home. I had decided I wouldn't join any service organizations or other groups until a year had passed. A defense mechanism? Maybe. I just don't want to jump into something unless I'm 100% into it.

So, when the Jack Jubilee carnival came up, I volunteered. Now, I even narrowed it down to just finding FOUR volunteers. Each volunteer would cover an hour. How hard could that be???? Well, it turned out to be quite the challenge. I got the directory and began calling. Phone calls didn't get returned and the only volunteers I had were my trusty neighbor in addition to myself. Not long after the initial wave of phone calls, I lost my voice. Therefore, I turned to email. Again, no response. I did finally reach a mom who agreed to a shift, sent her a confirmation letter and all. So the volunteers were 1. my trusty neighbor 2. a school mom 3. Me. 4. Scott. Well, the Jubilee came and I went to help set up and get my "trusty neighbor" started. I then returned home to switch cars with Scott so he could take Addy to a birthday party (did I mention the LSU v. Alabama game was on???? Scott was such a good sport). I then got Mary Ella and Molly ready for the carnival and called the first shift worker after her shift was supposed to be over (I had a bad feeling.) I said, "Please tell me the next person showed up." And she replied, "I'm still here taking pictures." So I get up there to relieve her and fortunately someone (not the person it was supposed to be) was doing just that. So I took advantage of the thirty minutes to take Mary Ella around until I needed to "man the booth". She desperately wanted to do the pony ride and we strolled over there to discover a VERY long line....there was no time. What is it about kids and pony rides???? Anyways, I promised (should've known better than to do that) we would get to it once Scott arrived. Well, Scott didn't arrive until late and the kids needed to eat. Poor Molly was having Teddy Grahams for dinner b/c I couldn't get away. Bottom line is that Mary Ella didn't get to do the pony ride that I had promised. I felt so guilty about it...still do. Here I was volunteering at her school....something that is supposed to be good and it turned out to spoil her fun. Now I'm not saying she didn't have any fun because she did. The pony ride is the one thing she really asked to do and we couldn't deliver. What was more frustrating is that I saw some of the moms I had called walking around with their kiddos, husbands, etc....one even came up to say, "hello." (maybe she didn't get the message???) Don't get me wrong, I don't hold a grudge(well, maybe a little...I'm working on it), but at that moment I was a bit frustrated. How can you not return a phone call about volunteering at your kid's school or more frustrating, commit to it and then not bother showing up or calling? This happens at churches a lot too. I just don't "get" it. I hope y'all don't think I'm an angry person, but golly, whatever happened to personal accountability? What a shame.

Despite this, it will not deter me from volunteering again. I think schools are a wonderful place to volunteer, even if you don't have kiddos there. Afterall, their big (many toothless) grins are worth it :).