Tuesday, June 19, 2007

6/19 The best work day ever....

I got up at 4:30, took Q with me to Camp Victor where I left her with Jon and Pepper (his Dalmatian). Doggy day care didn't open until 8, and I was at CV before 6:30. Jon said he would get someone to take Quincy to Pampered Pets for me, so I was able to leave her in his office without a worry. I then went to the dining hall for a quick breakfast and a cup of coffee. After that it was a meeting with my team. I'd asked for 12 youth to work with. Instead they gave me 13 youth and five adults. Not too bad for my first time leading a work crew, huh?

80% chance of thunderstorms. I drove my SUV and waited in the rain for the bus to arrive. Right before the kids got there the rain stopped and didn't come back until about 20 minutes after we stopped working. Amazing.

We worked at a client's home on Davis Bayou. A gorgeous setting. It was grueling work at times, but so rewarding. Afterwards the client took some kids kayaking while the rest of us sat in the shade and watched--and enjoyed.

These kids were absolutely amazing. No complaints, no arguing, nothing but positives. I loved working with them, and will do so again on Thursday. Tomorrow I have a board meeting I need to attend, so I'll be in office mode.

Probably the neatest thing that happened was when one of the adults said, "You know if you just scrape the ground a little you can find some of their things buried in the dirt." And she was so right. I'd heard that hurricanes did that, but hadn't really experienced the results. But we dug down 1/2 inch to an inch and found all kinds of things. They found two of the wife's rings, the husband's class ring, grandma's rosary. So we're going to play archaeologist again on Thursday. Can't wait.

(Oh, we had 360 kids this week, an absolute rarity. Normally our volunteers are 18 and older. This is kind of fun though.)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

How can a post titled "The best work day ever" start with getting up at 4:30??? When you go back to digging, let me know if you find my engagement ring.

Jerilyn Dufresne, author said...

Yeah, I guess it is a bit oxymoronic. But Q gets me up every day at 5 or 5:30 anyway, so it wasn't too much of a stretch for me. While I'm looking for your engagement ring, I'll look for my class ring.

Anonymous said...

That's amazing being able to dig and find all of that. I bet people find stuff around that whole area for years to come.
Sounds like a great day.

Jerilyn Dufresne, author said...

That's what I've heard, Kelly. I'm sure looking forward to going out there again tomorrow. Would love to take Quincy, it's such a beautiful spot on the water.