We still volunteer

I just wanted to write a little about my volunteering experience, as I haven't in awhile. It's been going really well, Noreen and I find that it's been helping us get through some difficult and mundane times recently, me mundane, her difficult. To be honest, and I think I've expresseed this before, some days we really don't feel like going but once we get there and afterwards, we're very happy we did. It's rejuvenating! We have also had a really great group of kids recently who are well-behaved and a joy to work with. That's not to diminish our experience with the previous children, I think I almost derived more learning about the issue of domestic violence, children, and life from them. You get better steel from a hotter fire. Still, it's a joy with these kids. One little girl is cute as a button, a charmer for sure. One boy is a lot of fun becaue he's a lot like I was at his age, so I can relate to him very well. We play board games a lot, and play with the ball outside, and talk. That's nice because with younger kids you can't really have conversations so much as just play. And there's another little guy who's very sweet. There is a snag with him though. After some meetings and my own personal experience, I'm coming to believe that unfortunately I remind him of his and his mother's abuser, in appearance obviously. This was probably my biggest fear before we started and it's always in the back of my mind that I will trigger something for one of the women or the children. He does not run screaming from me or anything, but he is visibly defensive and guarded when I enter the room and speak to him. But a little work on my part and he opens up a bit. It'll just take time I guess.

Unfortunately, I will have to stop volunteering in late August before school starts. I'm a bit sad about that because I'll miss that people a lot. Also, I'll miss knowing that I'm doing something to help. And I would lie if I didn't mention that selfishly I'll miss the respite it has been from work and would be from school. I just won't have the time. I'm going to keep in touch, though. See if I can help here and there. Noreen is going to take a short absence from it, so she can get used to her new schedule and figure out when is best for her to regularly volunteer. So, that's that I guess. I'll still write about, and I sure will till I finish.