TCL - Rule #3 - Serving Helps you Grow

As a freshman, I am not even sure I came to the majority of the Interact meetings; I had joined a club without even fully being aware of the implications. I do remember the sponsoring teacher’s genuine love for service and the look on his face that always said, “Come one guys, I promise you, this is fun!” I believe that is why I began to serve. Without really acknowledging what I was getting myself into, I kept signing up for events, and getting my mom to drive me. Of course she never objected, because I was doing a noble thing, right? It was not until a year or two after that I realized how community service was affecting my life. When I got my driver’s license, it became my job to drive myself to the venues and be on time (I am rarely on time to anything). Without my mother, I had to take full responsibility for each event, but it also gave me the chance to go to exactly which projects I wanted to. I have worked on Kennesaw Mountain to restore the trails (which meant learning how to use a pick-axe and using the muscles I’ve never had), I have watched over children, worked at registration tables for non-profit events, participated in six eagle scout projects and done sandwich drives in our own cafeteria.
As I became more involved, I started to become more genuinely helpful and willing to put others first. I have learned how to talk to adults professionally, how to write the perfect formal e-mail, and how to contact people efficiently. I am no longer intimidated by any conversation because service has increased my people skills, confidence, and ability to perform several various tasks. My organizational skills shot up, although I’d have a melt-down if I ever lost my planner, and I noticed that I have become generally more successful when planning events. 
 My all-time favorite experience has been serving at the Extension. Extension is a facility that strives to enable a transformation that empowers chemically dependent homeless men and women to become sober, accountable member of society and to serve as a recovery resource for the community. Every month I went with a group from my school to prepare and serve a meal for them. I love the feeling of providing a meal for someone who needs it, and seeing the smile on their faces as they receive and consume it. Meeting the men at the facility and serving the foods helped me to realize how much the problem I walked into the door with doesn’t matter. One of my girlfriends snapped at me today? Try being homeless and addicted to drugs with nowhere to turn. A highly trained staff including certified counselors works daily with the men to help them find jobs, beat addiction, and put the pieces of their lives back together. Brian McNair, Board Chair said, “Not all make it, but a lot of them do, and when they do their lives are changed forever, and the lives of their families are changed, and our community is changed.  We’re not just talking about the hope of 67 men and women; we’re talking about the hope of their families, the kids who just want their mommy or daddy back in their lives, the mothers and fathers who have been through so much who simply want the peace of knowing their son or daughter is going to be okay.  Giving to The Extension is about supporting families and the community as a whole.  It’s not about a problem—it’s about a solution.”

I guess service really gives me an opportunity to be genuinely proud of myself, and realize how happy I am with the life I was given because I am so blessed. Without the constant reminder of how much I have and how much I am able to give others, I would forget. Next year at Tampa, the honors program will require me to do a certain number of hours each semester, but it will be a piece of cake. Not many people fully understand that they get as much out of serving as the people who are receiving the service, but it is a great lesson that I have learned. 

TCL - Rule #2 - Responsibility of Adulthood

 When my parents left on Saturday for a week long scuba diving trip, I immediately became head of the house; a title I have been adjusting to all week. I have never been in charge of a household for more than a few days at a time, so seven days offered me enough time to really get a taste of what full Independence is like. Of course independence is not something that I have been deprived of completely, and is something I must grasp fully when I move to Tampa for college in the fall, but even then I won’t have a sibling and pets to care for. Besides doing the laundry, the dishes, getting the mail, feeding and walking the animals ect, I learned that taking care of another person is not a lot of fun. My brother is old enough to spend hours on his own, but not old enough to feed himself, drive, or plan for himself. If I’d let him fend for himself he would have spent the entire week on the couch watching TV, playing video games, and eating cereal. But then what kind of caretaker would I have been? I took him out to dinner to at least get him out of the house and while we were eating asked, “If you could do anything you wanted, what would it be?” He couldn’t think of much. All of his friends are at least a half an hour away and extremely busy, so play dates were hard to coordinate, especially with my 6-9pm work hours each day. I thought about what kind of daytime activity I could suggest, and with the inspiration of the wildlife art hanging on the wall to our right, I asked him if he would like to go to the Atlanta zoo. This suggestion was a big hit and we planned the trip. He was going to bring a friend and so was I. The Atlanta Zoo by the way, was a lot smaller than I had imagined, but this may have been because the only other zoo I have been to is the one in San Diego. It took my father and I three and a half hours to tour the whole thing as opposed to the hour and a half it took for my boyfriend and I to walk through the Atlanta Zoo. To my disappointment this elephants had been put in for the day as well- my favorite animal and half the reason I wanted to go to the zoo.

                In addition to the household duties, I also started my first job while they were out of town. I am a hostess/extra hand (and an extra hand means I refill drinks, clear tables, wipe them down ect.) for a bar and grill, and will soon upgrade to waitressing after I get my pouring permit. Firstly, I decided I would save 75% of all the money I make for my “life funds”. I’ve been starting to realize how much paying for living space is really going to cost once I am out of college, how I will need a car, and how many hours I have to work just to afford a dinner for two (which is more of a downfall for my boyfriend than me hehe). I definitely need some life funds. Secondly, working definitely does not challenge my brain like school does, but it still a challenge. Being a employee in a restaurant means I have to be extremely friendly and not let anything anybody says bother me for four hours at a time. It means I have to touch the remains of other people picked at and pulled apart meals, wipe up gloopy droppings from the floor, and wipe ketchup off crayons once toddlers are done fiddling around with them. At the end of the day my legs and back hurt, which I didn’t think was supposed to happen at eighteen. Thirdly, working at the restaurant has changed my perspective about restaurants in general. Know I know what is going through the servers and hostesses heads when I walk into restaurants. How the server hopes to God he got the order right, and is constantly thinking about the tip he/she is going to get. How sometimes the hostess looks down at her papers when she/he has nothing to do and pretends to be very interested or concerned about something that is not there because staring at the door gets boring sometimes.

                The point is, adulthood is here, and there are so many things I am realizing. Some I like – staying out late, not being in high school, making my own choices. Some I don’t – bills, money problems, leaving your friends when it’s time to split, having to be responsible. Being responsible is a full-time job. It isn’t something we sign up for, it’s just a job that is thrusted upon us and we choose to either embrace it or ignore and seek out the consequences. I think I can do it? It is something I am still trying to figure out.