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| Cabin at the boys' home |
It has been full of so many new experiences, triumphs, and disappointments.
To be totally honest, around day 90, I was feeling a little bit cynical and disillusioned. Most of the first 90 days were spent learning how the boys’ home worked and finding my way around Spartanburg. By the third month though, I am so deep in my organization and its needs, I feel as though nine more months is not near enough time to fulfill them. There is so much to do that I can’t possibly make a dent.
Then I think about how I was before all of this: just graduated from college and never having lived anywhere but home or school. I was still adult-like because I owned my car and making payments on it. Now, three months later, I am living 7 hours away from home, working a 9 to 5 job, applying for grad schools, and paying for rent, electricity, cable, water, and groceries. (I think it has taken by body this long to get adjusted to sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day.) Even if I accomplished absolutely nothing a work, I had grown as a person as a result of this experience. And luckily, I have accomplished things at work. Marketing, fundraising, and organizing volunteers might not be the dramatic impact I want to make for these boys now, but you can’t change things overnight. I feel like I am more capable to help my organization today than I was three months ago and that gives me hope for the next 9 months.
Enjoy these random pictures from the last 90 days:
" You wanna be great? Then have the courage to fail big and stick around. Make them wonder why you're still smiling." -Elizabethtown
" You wanna be great? Then have the courage to fail big and stick around. Make them wonder why you're still smiling." -Elizabethtown
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| Ferdinand! (The lizard who resides in my office). He greeted me when I returned from Thanksgiving. |
For those of you wondering: No, I never got my food stamps. I’m exploring my options.
Here is a local news story about the United Way’s Gift In-Kind Center where non-profits like the boys’ home and poor Vistas (J) can get toiletries among other things: http://www2.wspa.com/news/2011/dec/01/walmart-returns-help-provide-for-needy-ar-2784812/
No food stamps? That is so sad. I hope you find some other options. Meanwhile, don't get scurvy!
ReplyDeleteI know what it's like not going home for Christmas--though you will be spending the holidays in a way that is more contributory to society as a whole. (I've been looking into caving expeditions to take while Kat is away with her family.) So if you start to feel lonely shoot a message my way, because I'm in more or less the same boat. Christmas isn't the same without family.
Thanks for keeping us updated with your life, Badger! I think I'm driving north this summer, so if you're still there, maybe I can swing by for a visit.
Lots o' love.
Badger, you've got the spiffiest attitude. <3 And is that another Elizabethtown reference I see?! WOT? Rock it to the moon.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad Ferdinand was still alive and kicking when you got back.
I'm serious about this three-way-Skype that needs to happen come Christmas time, too. Of course, we must Skype much sooner than that. Love, love, love.