The One Thing

Service is the rent we pay for being. It is the very purpose of life, and not something you do in your spare time. 
- Marian Wright Edelman


It's been a long while since I've written.  It isn't that I haven't had anything about which to write, necessairly, but I felt that I'd either already written about it or somebody else had.


In 11 days I am hosting a coutywide effort focusing on truancy that expects an attendance of 500 people.  Though I am receiving an abundance of help, I am the "mastermind" responsible for it all.  In other words, if something goes wrong, it is my fault.  Yet, even with that pressure - to the point where I wake up at 2:30am thinking about something I should do to make it better - I dedicated a completely free schedule to a Day of Action with United Way of York.  First, United Way of York is helping to fund said-Summit so I feel that I should give back, but I believe, in every fiber of my being, in the quote that begins this blog.  


So I sacrified a potential nine-hours of planning during which I could have caught up and would not be so far behind in my work, to push a lovely 91-year-old woman around the York Fair and to organize books for the York County Literacy Council book fair.


While I was organizing these books I asked a woman with whom I was volunteering whether she often volunteered with the York County Literacy Council.  She seemed amazed at my question and answered that she had a son who was a senior and a son who was a 7th grader.  She did not have time, she said.  Their sports schedules were so time-consuming there was hardly time for anything else.  Another volunteer heard this and chimed in that she remembered when her boys were young - all the games and the practices and the time dedicated to driving and watching said games, etc.


As I continued to listen I decided that I would never let Samara's activities - or mine or Tim's for that matter - stop me from giving back to my community.  Thinking back, I know I danced  A LOT when I was young, but I do not think I let it stop me from giving back (Mom, correct me if I'm wrong.)  If anything, it would be great family times.  And this revelation has answered a question I've been asking myself for many weeks.  My daughter - like all children her age - is a sponge.  So everyday I ask myself, what is the one thing I would want to teach this "sponge" and how do I do it?  How do you teach the mindset that if you have a dollar and you're not really that thirsty, buying lemonade for a person who hasn't had a drink since the day before is a better investment?  Better yet, teach her to invest in an organization that teaches people how to MAKE lemonade.  And as many wise folk will tell you, lead by example - that is the best way to teach.  


So I will take Samara to my weekend fundraisers - like the fundraisers we have scheduled to attend tomorrow.  We will volunteer as tutors and painters and helpers and whatevers at the agencies who serve the folks who need us.  I will teach her that because I invest time and money into her interests (whatever they may be) I ask that she give back to the community that I know needs our help and attention.  We will because that is what life is about.  So I won't wait for spare time to knock on my door because it won't.  Other to-do items will always exist.  It is the making of the time because- AGAIN - that is what life is about.  That is the legacy I hope to leave.