winding down, revving up

For the last few weeks, I've been feeling rather lethargic at open gym. With the sun kicking' it high in the sky, we've booted the kids out doors. They're pretty self-sustaining out there and it usually leaves me in  the grass, basking with a book. I find myself grumbling to have to get up to open a door or get the snack before I remember that my relaxation is the anomaly, not its interruption.

I have an ever-expanding list on how to out-do the Open Gym next year. It's an exciting list and an intimidating one. Many of the ideas are too involved to implement right at the end of this year - I tend to need a particular "clean slate" feng shui for projects - but I know that I can't just passively set them aside or I will be just as unprepared to tackle them next year.

So i have begun dabbling in the smaller ideas to see how they take hold. Lately, I've been trying to have a new craft option every day. A couple of the younger kids got excited about paper bag kites a couple of weeks ago, although after we made them I realized the weather conditions were not conducive to testing them out. One young girl became interested in my knitting and although I knew she would not be ale to do a project, I gave my best attempt at teaching her the basic skill before Mary and Mackensie found a finger weaving alternative. I have all of these ideas stewing on how to engage the kids in more educationally oriented experiences there but I don't have the groundwork laid out.

I do officially have a new partner picked out for next year though. Perhaps her background in marketing will help with figuring out how to market my ideas to a passive community.

One of the groundwork projects is to make the Open Gym that the kids care about caring about. With its leaky roof and disarray of useless oddities, it is hard for me to care about keeping it in order, let alone a bunch of kids whose forte is not accountability of their own messes.

The roof scenario is infamous. We ask the school for help. The school says they'll look into it. The school does nothing. Repeat each year until homicidal or apathetic.

A few months ago, Mary and I had the honors of engaging in one such conversation which ended with the superintendent turning the whole topic on its head to complain about how "we really don't see what you do" and "could you come to a board meeting and tell us what you do?" I'd been significantly more irked by the whole blunder and when it came time to prepare our board meeting presentation, I was anxious to give them a piece of our mind about our needs. However, our team decided that with the new twist of having a new superintendent next year, we should just focus on highlighting our precious qualities. Leave out the bitching.

So with as friendly a face as I could muster, I agreed to present the Open Gym portion and make no mention of our roof. The presentation went well. I caught nods and impressed gazes as I spoke about the Open Gym's role beyond academia to connect with and support the kids. When I got the text from Meghann shortly after leaving which said they had finally passed a plan to redo the roof - perhaps as soon as this summer - I was thrilled.

I have such a love for this town and this community. One weakness of AmeriCorps is that many cannot afford to stay over two years. If they could, I think the improvements it could make would surpass expectations by leaps and bounds. You don't learn parenting in a year. You don't learn a community in a year. In all the "firsts" I have had this year, there have been notes on how I can do even better. So I am excited for next year, to see where this learning can lead. But I know there will be more learning, and always be more that can be done...


As for now though, a break and restoration is in order! I am counting down the days until my family makes it out here (27) and have even started piling what I can into boxes since I will be moving to the other side of the duplex. It has been quite an exercise to navigate how to stay in the present and quell the anticipation while everything in me wants to think about what is next!