Today Is the Day | Day of Service Journal Part 14

Today is September 25, and after all these weeks of writing about this Day of Service, we are finally here.

When we started planning this months ago, I had a pretty clear picture in my head of what this morning would look like. I figured by now I would know exactly how many people were coming, what equipment would be there, when the dumpster was arriving, who was doing what, and all the other little things I like to know before something starts.

That is not exactly where we are this morning. Some of the people who planned to volunteer are no longer able to make it. I still do not have a firm headcount. Some of the landscaping help we were counting on is uncertain, and the dumpster we need for the debris may not arrive until later in the day. None of that is a disaster, but I would be lying if I said it does not bother me a little.

Anybody who knows me knows I like a plan. More importantly, I like the backup plan. And if there is a backup plan to the backup plan, even better. That is just how I am wired.

Phyllis, of course, looks at all of this completely differently. I am looking at the people who may not be there. She is looking at the people who are coming. I am thinking about what equipment we may not have. She is looking at everything already packed in the car. I am worried about the dumpster not being there when we start, and she is basically looking at me like, “But it is coming, right?”

That pretty much sums up the two of us. She sees the glass half full. I see the other half and start trying to figure out why the hell it is empty. Somewhere between the two of us is probably exactly where we need to be this morning.

Because when I get out of my own head for a minute and look at what we actually have, there is a lot to be grateful for. We found the veteran family we were looking for. She and her mother are there, and there is work around their home that needs to be done.
The 516 Project has stayed with us throughout this process. We have people who are giving up part of their Friday to come help. We have businesses and individuals who have donated supplies, food, drinks, time and other support. We have people who have helped behind the scenes who may never end up in a picture, and our own team has put in a lot of time getting us to this morning.

That is what I need to keep my attention on.

I also keep thinking about something our veteran has said more than once. She still seems a little uncomfortable being the person receiving the help because she keeps thinking about other people who may need it more. I hope that today, for at least a few hours, she does not worry about that. Sometimes you are the one helping everybody else, and sometimes you have to let other people show up for you. Today, we are asking her to let us do that.

Today We Find Out

By the time some of you read this, Phyllis and I will probably already be on the road or pulling into that driveway somewhere in Caroline County.
The car is packed. The tents are ready. The coolers are loaded. We are going to see who shows up, look at what equipment we actually have in front of us, figure out what we can safely accomplish, and then start working.

Will everything happen exactly the way we planned it? Probably not. I have been around enough projects to know that somebody is probably going to forget something, something will show up late, somebody will need to make a run for something we did not know we needed, and at some point I will probably be asking where something is that is sitting ten feet away from me.

That is how these days go. The goal was never to put on a perfectly organized event. The goal was to help a veteran and her mother and leave their home better than we found it. As long as we keep that in front of us, we will be fine.

So this morning, I am choosing to be grateful for the people who are coming instead of worrying about the people who are not. I am grateful for the businesses that contributed, the people who helped make calls, the people who donated things, the people who helped us plan, and everybody who simply said, “What do you need?”

The day may not look exactly like the one I pictured months ago, but people are still showing up. We have businesses that stepped up, volunteers giving us part of their Friday, a nonprofit partner that stayed with us, a team that has worked behind the scenes, and a veteran and her mother who are allowing us into their home to help.

When I look at it that way, there is a lot more to be grateful for than there is to be frustrated about.

If you read Part 13: One Week Out, you know how much of this last week was spent trying to turn volunteers, equipment, food, materials and good intentions into an actual plan. Before that,
Part 12 marked the point when we finally had the family, the address and the opportunity to see what needed to be done.

After thirteen journal entries about trying to get here, there really is not much left to write about the planning. We made it. The car is packed, the tents are ready, the coolers are loaded, and somewhere in Caroline County there is a yard waiting on us.

Phyllis has the optimism. I have the coffee. Between the two of us, I think we are ready.

Today is September 25. The Day of Service is here, people are showing up, and we have work to do. Let’s make it a good day.