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Being a rider has given me the opportunity to travel and see the world. At this point in my life I love the non-stop action, and never being in one place for too long. It’s tiring at times, but it never gets boring. I wouldn’t trade it for anything and there are really only a few things that make me wonder what it would be like to stay in one place for any extended amount of time, and seeing my family is one of these things. Another one though is being able to make plans and guarantee my attendance. I hardly know what I am going to do tomorrow let alone a month from now.
Such a busy schedule has kept me from volunteering. Go ahead and laugh, but I do enjoy doing things for others. When I was younger I used to go with my Grandma’s to a retirement home and help the residents play bingo. Most of the people never had any visitors and the hour we spent there every Wednesday was the highlight of their day or even week. One lady in particular took a liking to me and would make me sit with her every time. We usually would talk the whole time and not even pay attention to the game. She had Alzheimer’s so bad that she kept calling me by her granddaughter’s name, but it didn’t matter to me. It made her so happy to have a visitor I just let her call me whatever she wanted. It’s been over 13 years now and just thinking about her still brings a smile to my face.
Growing up I used to be so involved in my church, I would read every reading I could, act in every play, and when that wasn’t enough, we would come up with new skits. One time I was playing the role of a frazzled wife who burnt her husband’s birthday cake. The pastor’s wife was in the back with a cake pan and to make it look realistic we burned paper and then blew it out so it would be smoking when I brought it out. It went really well in the first service, but during the second service we used too much paper and it got a little out of hand. Let’s just say the carpet needed to be replaced right after and they never let us play with fire in church again.
I was brought up with a strong sense of doing for others, but the last five or six years I have only been able to volunteer at FCA camps and read at the Christmas Eve service. Since I am home this entire month, when an opportunity to volunteer came up. I was happy to do it. Last Friday was my church’s day to ring bells at the shops downtown for Salvation Army. All the money goes to local people in need so it’s really worth it, and not even a lot of work involved. All I had to do was stand outside for two hours in temperatures hovering around zero (that’s Fahrenheit, not Celsius), ring a bell and wish people a Merry Christmas. Now you may call me a sucker but I cant walk by a homeless person on the street without wanting to give them something, and I always put something in the pot even if its just loose change. That’s why I was so astonished at the amount of people who would comment on how cold I looked and then just walk right on by. Obviously if I am willing to stand out in the freezing cold and get sick, it’s for a good cause, right?
Anyways I just wanted to remind everyone that as bad as the economy is, you are still sitting some place warm in front of a computer right now, and there are others who have it much worse. Sometimes the smallest gesture or just a few dollars can do more than you will ever know, and it is the season for giving.
