As of June, I will no longer be president of my chapter's MOMS Club, and I am so glad. Not that it is a hard job; it is most certainly not. But I am just done being as heavily involved in it as I have been these past 6 years.
The time has come to be involved in something else.
And so I agreed to run for my neighborhood's HOA because I am a sucker for flattery.
At our first board meeting I agreed to be secretary since I just have to attend once a month board meetings and take notes. While being compliance chairperson sounds like a dream position for me since I walk around the neighborhood with the kids and think, "They need to clip the shoots growing up from the bottom of their tree" and "They need to rehang their shutters because they are all caddywhampus," I know I would be completely dictatorial. And it already pisses me off to see people who don't keep their property neat and clean; it is best that I not have any contact with these folks since I might say something untoward. Like, "Ah, you are one of those folks with more money than sense..... or perhaps more debt than sense since you live in a home you apparently can't afford to maintain....or perhaps you are just a clueless a**hole."
N's teacher emailed parents about how the school's board of directors needs volunteers, and I briefly thought about that. Meetings would be during the day so D wouldn't have to watch the kids (which is good since his head nearly implodes at the prospect of watching the kids during the months when I attend bookclub, bunco and board meeting), but I would have to take G and M which would make my participation minimal and, therefore, my attendance pointless.
Although I have pretty well decided that I will not go back to work full-time while we have children living in our home unless I must in order to put food on our table, I still like to volunteer as a means of padding my resume (because I do intend to work part-time as a substitute teacher within the next 5 years). Somehow saying "I wiped shit from 3 little people's asses since 2004" doesn't go very far in the employment world.
My volunteerism is also a great thing for my children to witness. Seeing me take meals to women in the MOMS Club who have had babies or hearing how I volunteered at N's school when I could or knowing that I work to make our neighborhood a nice place to live shows them that I care for things beyond them and beyond myself. Giving them opportunities to help me is also a good way for them to feel at ease with volunteering.
The time has come to be involved in something else.
And so I agreed to run for my neighborhood's HOA because I am a sucker for flattery.
At our first board meeting I agreed to be secretary since I just have to attend once a month board meetings and take notes. While being compliance chairperson sounds like a dream position for me since I walk around the neighborhood with the kids and think, "They need to clip the shoots growing up from the bottom of their tree" and "They need to rehang their shutters because they are all caddywhampus," I know I would be completely dictatorial. And it already pisses me off to see people who don't keep their property neat and clean; it is best that I not have any contact with these folks since I might say something untoward. Like, "Ah, you are one of those folks with more money than sense..... or perhaps more debt than sense since you live in a home you apparently can't afford to maintain....or perhaps you are just a clueless a**hole."
N's teacher emailed parents about how the school's board of directors needs volunteers, and I briefly thought about that. Meetings would be during the day so D wouldn't have to watch the kids (which is good since his head nearly implodes at the prospect of watching the kids during the months when I attend bookclub, bunco and board meeting), but I would have to take G and M which would make my participation minimal and, therefore, my attendance pointless.
Although I have pretty well decided that I will not go back to work full-time while we have children living in our home unless I must in order to put food on our table, I still like to volunteer as a means of padding my resume (because I do intend to work part-time as a substitute teacher within the next 5 years). Somehow saying "I wiped shit from 3 little people's asses since 2004" doesn't go very far in the employment world.
My volunteerism is also a great thing for my children to witness. Seeing me take meals to women in the MOMS Club who have had babies or hearing how I volunteered at N's school when I could or knowing that I work to make our neighborhood a nice place to live shows them that I care for things beyond them and beyond myself. Giving them opportunities to help me is also a good way for them to feel at ease with volunteering.
2 comments:
It makes sense, since your kids are getting older, that you would shift some of your energy.
I have been amazed at how busy I could be volunteering in school. And I agree that it sets a good example for our kids.
Hee hee. I love having you as a bloggy friend, but it's probably good we don't know each other in real life. I'd drive you bonkers. I'm not even going to begin to tell you about the state of my yard. Or the suckers. Or the wild, unpruned bushes. Or....well, never mind. You'd stop reading my blog ;)
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