You know you've been in the SCA too long...

[kellan_the_tabby]

The Greek church near us has a lovely Greek food festival twice a year, and we always go. Usually we gain something on the order of five pounds over the course of several meals over the weekend...

I went alone, on Friday, and just brought the food home. Tonight Lewis and I and my mom went over. We got there pretty late and were among the last to get served, and they were starting to clean up around us as we finished.

I finished eating, stood up, picked up my tray with one hand and the chair I was sitting in in the other. Headed for the trash, took care of the tray, handed the chair to the guy putting them on the rack. He looked vaguely surprised, then more so when Lewis showed up right behind me with four chairs.

Mom was fairly confused, too, but she pitched in and we helped until all the chairs and about half the tables were packed away. Several of them came up to thank us, and I caught Lewis explaining to the one that we were involved in a volunteer organization that among other things involved chairs.

The food festival has always vaguely reminded me of a feast at some faraway SCA group where I really don't know anyone but the food is good, and I always wind up feeling vaguely guilty that I don't help out. It's amusing, the reflexes we develop...

Comments

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

I had a similar experience with my daughter's old day care, which is a non-profit. (For those in the Boston area, I recommend it highly.)

The day care asks and expects (but does not mandate) that parents help out with tasks and projects, fundraisers and the like. So, well, duh; I did. Nothing ever major - helping with the scholarship yard-sale, doing projects in the classroom, chaperon on field trips, made some wooden boards in my basement shop for playing with clay.

Some time down the road, I was asked by the director if I would be part of a short panel discussion for a class which she teaches on children with special needs. (The director is also a professor at the Masters level in child development.) In her introduction of me,
she paid me a compliment I will always treasure - she referred to me as a "community builder".

Damn, I love that.

[kellan_the_tabby]

*grin* Hearing that kind of thing is always _too_ cool.

I'm guessing, by the way, that your 'not major' help was likely more than they were getting from any of their other parents...

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that is all that true. Well, more than most might be true, because most parents did nothing. But we had a little cadre of people that did lots of stuff.

I think I was most notable because there were times when I told them about a solution I'd implemented, to a problem they were not aware of, or because if someone else ran something, I was more than happy to help.

It's all part of the curse of the parent - kids don't give a damn what you say, they do what you do. Want a good kid? Gotta be a good grown-up.

[cellio]

I've had similar things happen at my synagogue at the end of the post-service gathering. Our director at one point approached me, pointed to the tray of food I was clearing, and said "we have staff to do that; stop encroaching on their job". I hadn't viewed it that way before.

[kellan_the_tabby]

Huh. I've never had anything like that happen, personally, though I can see his point...