Picking up from yesterday –
and going away from my tangents on dogs and cupcakes, so the day went splendidly. I had so much fun getting families psyched about the day and hearing about what they learned while collecting their stamps.
When the day was coming to an end, Allison, the volunteer coordinator, made me feel like the belle of the ball! She was all, “Where did you come from?! You’re awesome! You are made for the information booth. I loved the way you interacted with people.”
It was raining compliments, which of course makes me feel amazing. She even offered to drop me off at a Metro station on her way home (since Santa Monica Airport is sort of hard to get to by public transport).
Since I was staying to hitch a ride with her, I went ahead and helped with the cleanup as well – which caused another happy storm of compliments. “Wow, you just get right in there. You know how to fold up tables! You seem to really know what you’re doing.”
Of course, I felt so happy and special all over again. I’ve never really thought too much about how events have been a pretty big part of my life… until now that I’m doing these 52 volunteer activities.
I’ve been around so many plays, recitals, dinners, receptions, etc. – and also so many set-building and tear-down days that I do just kind of go into the mode and start helping. My theater teacher instilled a bunch of great lessons and characteristics into us, and the desire to just start helping when you see people who need help is one of those things.
I mean, that sounds like a pretty normal thing, right? But now that I’m meeting more people involved in event planning (and now that I’m going to events myself), I’m starting to learn about all sorts of volunteers. Some are more helpful than others. Also, some have different strengths.
Just because I’m sitting here talking about how awesome I am (conceited, right?), I’ll readily admit that I’m better at interactive jobs. I’m better at jobs that keep you pretty busy. There are certainly things I do better than other things.
So, it’s really not about whose better or best… (I mean, for those of you who know me, it sort of is, since I’m always saying “If you’re not first, you’re last” ;)) But It’s about everyone using their best strengths – which I’m sure is a hard things for coordinators to try to navigate when they’re meeting people on probably the one and only day they’re going to use them.
Anyway, I felt great, valued, smart, and happy! And I got to go to a place I’d never been (and didn’t even know existed), so I’d call it an excellent day!