Beneath the Wraps

         A couple of weeks ago, Jenna came home with a form for parents interested in volunteering for an upcoming field trip.   She begged me to please fill it out and I did. The next morning, after returning home from leaving her at school, I thought better of it.   The volunteers needed to be downtown at 8:15.   Even if we caught an earlier bus, I wouldn’t be able to get downtown at the allotted time.          At first I tried to make arrangements to car pool with another student in her class.   But that didn’t pan out, and we actually ended up having Roland drop us off at her school at 6:30 in the morning, but I had to leave for the bus stop while it was still dark.   I felt bad about leaving her.   I felt worse when I arrived and discovered that there appeared to be more children than adults.   I should have taken Jenna downtown with me – but she wanted to go to s...

After we had purchased the house Roland put the boys to work painting the trim red. That was seven years ago. Time to paint again. Randy needs money and Roland puts all three boys to work and says he’ll pay them 100 dollars each as soon as the work is done. The instructions are fairly simple:  Everything that is red needs to be painted over in green, everything that’s white needs to be repainted white. Biff was the first to show. He works graveyard and comes straight from his job though two weeks ago I think he went to the gym before coming here Roland had to work that day and so I had told Tony that he could be in charge I didn’t want Randy to be in charge because most of the time he doesn’t even know what he’s doing as he has managed to disappear each time Roland taught the boys a trade Randy appears to be genuine about helping or at least that was the case two weeks ago But he loaded the paintbrush so that it d...

     When Roland and I lived in Kearns, we spent time volunteering at the pasta plant.   We once purchased a very large order while there.   A mammoth order actually – which was good, because it carried us through several years of hardship.      I think it was just right after Christmas when we passed out the remaining pasta to our boys.   Within a week I found a huge box of food had been left at our door step.   No note.   No hint of who may have left it. I didn’t know if the church was taking up a collection and Roland had given our address as a drop off – but it was on Sunday when I found it – meaning whoever dropped it off was a lot faster getting home from church than we were.   It was odd.   And so I actually started taking things out to sort them into groups.      It was an odd assortment really.   Bags of pasta.   A variety of canned goods.   A box...

Last night I attended a birthday party for the RS.   The dinner wasn’t scheduled until 6:30, but I could tell by the decorations and the presentation that there were some on the committee that must have started setting up at 5:00.   And then they stayed to clean up afterwards.   I KNOW more time was dedicated to the   entire set-up/clean-up-process than was for the event itself.   I have felt much admiration for these sisters – but especially on nights like last night.   What a lot of hoop-lah and truly admirable devotion! Shortly after Roland and I moved into our current ward, I was asked to be on the activities committee.   It was a short lived calling as the entire committee changed hands just four months later.   But I don’t recall devoting so much time.   But then our RS pres at the time was a Superwoman who somehow has enjoyed the challenge of doing it all with little or no delegation.   She cooked and baked a...

What goes around comes around.   I thought about that when Alley’s mom offered not only to drive us to Jenna’s school, but pick her up as well.   When I was driving I had stopped to pick up Jorge and his mom whenever I would see them walking to church.   I was also willing to drive them to other destinations as needed. I’ve given rides to various people for various reasons.   I actually haven’t had a problem with it so I don’t know why I’m having such an issue at the receiving end.   Alley’s mom is a really good driver – unfortunately not all drivers are that careful behind the wheel.   If she were to get in an accident because she was out shuttling Jenna and me around, I would be quite bothered by it.   But I didn’t want to discourage her or take away from her act of kindness.   The last time she picked Jenna up from school, her own children nearly beat her home. Jenna, who usually considers herself late for school ...

-->   I like Welfare Square.  It's inviting.  The atmosphere is pleasant.  The structure is appealing.   Last year I tried fitting the cannery into my schedule – volunteering once a week or twice a month.   I’d work from 11:00 to 2:30 – fit great into my schedule as I was free to drop Jenna off in the morning and get home before she was dropped off.   The hours have changed.   Now is 11:30 to 3:00 and Jenna is no longer getting dropped but I have to go and pick her up.    Going from the cannery to her school in twenty minutes is really pushing it (especially now that the construction is starting it’s way into monopolizing the road).   So I will have to find another method for volunteer hours. I prefer the consistency of the dairy, pasta plant and cannery as opposed to the inconsistency of the storehouse or the DI – though I have had some fun jobs at the  DI (Deseret Industries ) I’ve also wasted trips...

I’ve done volunteer work for the PTO and the PTA. I have never served on the board or chaired a committee. I’ve been approached three different times to volunteer/head the fundraiser.   Oh, no.   I hate fundraisers.   How could I possibly be in charge of something I loathe so much? The first school that my daughter attended seemed to get a lot of support for the PTA involvement.   The PTA president had asked me if I would volunteer one or two days a week to make copies for various teachers.   As I was already coming in once a week to assist with the preschool and kindergarten teachers – one or two extra hours in the copy room didn’t seem like a big deal. In that first school all of the paper was kept in the room behind the office along with the copy machines.   We were asked to record how much paper was being used and for what teachers.   I never made copies at Jenna’s second school.   I volunteered to help out her teacher once a w...

          When Jenna was in the first grade, I would drop her off before school started.   Often I would park and walk around the adjoining neighborhoods.   Sometimes I would go to the temple and sometimes I would remain at the school and offer my assistance.   I made copies for Jenna’s teacher once a week. Before school let out I would return for her – though she and her friend Isaac were always the last two across the field.   It didn’t bother me if she dawdled.   I would just assume NOT deal with school traffic.   When she was attending first grade I was usually the only car left by the time she arrived to the parking lot.                     I had a similar routine for the first six weeks of second grade.   And then she gave her name and number to a classmate who happens to live in our same zip code. ...