This year I have been volunteering in GaryTodd’s class. I was concerned about being bored while everyone was in school or at work. I didn’t want to spend every day cleaning the house. I hate housework.
I had the opportunity to volunteer for a short time when Morgan was in Kindergarten. I forgot how much I loved it. Getting to know the kids, watching their progress, seeing them gain more confidence… I’ve been having a great time helping out.
I also decided to volunteer to be a tutor at the ESL school at my church. (For those of you that might not be aware, “ESL” stands for English as a Second Language.) I could write a lot about my experiences with that. That was much more incredible than I would have ever expected.
Then I heard from GaryTodd’s teacher that Seanelle’s classroom was really suffering with a lack of volunteers. So I picked up another day. I have been amazed with how much the children learn to do from Kindergarten to First Grade!
I wasn’t looking for anything more to do, but then I heard my pastor invite anyone who wanted to attend to a class to learn how to deal with (and counsel those going through) grief in their lives. That sounded very intriguing to me. I started going last week, and I am thoroughly enjoying it. Although I am not in a situation where I felt I had to deal with any grief, I felt I wanted to learn how to help others through periods of grief. The class has been a big eye-opener, and I wish I would have taken this class years ago.
Tonight as I was appreciating my family, and it was time to wind down for the night, GaryTodd and Seanelle were playing cards. I am always so amazed with how well they play together. They were playing “Go Fish” and having a blast. They were both cheating so that Seanelle would win, and having a fantastic time.
And when I said it was time for bed, they decided they weren’t quite ready to call it quits. So while Seanelle was sitting on a chair telling us a story, GaryTodd jumped in her lap just so he could make her laugh.
And it worked.
This morning as I was taking them (and the neighbor kids) to school, Seanelle and GaryTodd were telling their friends how Seanelle had saved GaryTodd’s life in our accident.
Maybe the grief class is good not just to help other people, but to make sure that Seanelle and GaryTodd (as well as the rest of my family) are able to heal from it too.
