Volunteering

Today I was a volunteer at Kori's school for their book-fair. I got there and there were a few of us working. After a few minutes the PTA stand-in President informed me that after 11am I would be flying solo. Huh? What? Oh man! All in all it worked out fine. I got to eat lunch with Kori so that was cool. It wasn't cool that they changed the menu at the last minute. It was supposed to be their Thanksgiving lunch but they decided they should move that to next Tuesday in honor of Grandparent's Day. Great! People will have turkey on Tuesday and then again Thursday, while I on the other hand was forced to choose between the hot dog or the shrimp poppers. Both great choices huh? I chose the hot dog and also got corn and fruit cocktail. At the time they were out of fries and I didn't have time to wait, and it didn't sound too appetizing either. A little butter and salt and pepper on the corn would have been nice, but maybe that's just me being spoiled and over critical. Elementary school kids probably don't notice and/or care.

During lunch Kori got to pick a classmate to eat with us. She picked a girl I will call "E". "E" has a slight speech impediment (not poking fun as I had a severe lisp until around the 2nd grade, not to mention both a brother and sister who suffered in the "Speaks Clearly" category -- sowwy Wabecka. :-) ) Any way she calls Kori "Tori". Kori told me a couple of the boys make fun of her so we discussed how everyones different and that's okay. "E" was eating and unbeknownst to her was completely GROSSING me out!!! She had enough ketchup on her hot dog to supply a small restaurant for a while. She proclaimed to me "I just looooooove ketchup!" Really? I hadn't noticed, it's dripping off your hot dog. Then there was the eating the corn (not on the cob) with her fingers. Swiping her finger through the ketchup lake and licking it off, amongst other things. I was doing okay with it, my palms were a bit sweaty, but I kept reminding myself "their only 6, their only 6, their only 6" over and over. Finally it was time to go. But not before I pointed out she had a big glob of ketchup on the front of her shirt toward the bottom and also on the sleeve. At this point she licked her sleeve, pulled her shirt up to her mouth and sucked off the glob of ketchup before proclaiming, "No problem, all taken care of!" At this point I think I threw up just a bit in my mouth before declaring "Time to go, I'll walk you guys back!" In my head I had to remind myself to quit thinking about the germs that were clinging on to the ketchup for dear life. My stomach was already churning...no need to make things worse.

After a stop in the bathroom where I thoroughly washed my hands and took a minute to catch my breath, I returned for the rest of my volunteering shift. I was greeted with a cute little guy with a book and the money to purchase it. I told him his total and then about passed out when he took the money from his baggie, wiped his nose with his hand (same hand holding the money) and then gave it to me. Oh goody! Where is my hand sanitizer!?!?!?!?! It reminded me of the days when I was a clerk at the police station and we would get bond money from people bailing out their family, friends etc. Sometimes the money came from purses and wallets, often it came from bras, pants, shoes etc. There were crinkled bills, ripped bills and my personal favorite, wet ones. Those trips to detention were followed up with LOTS of hand washing. I believe this is where my germ issues started to manifest.

Anyway time went by quickly and I managed to not screw anything up! Bonus! I chipped in extra change of my own here and there because I just hate to tell the kiddos they are short money, especially a little bit of change and can't get their book(s). So I went with about $4.00 and came home with about 30 cents. Oh well, it made someone smile I'm sure.

Jason kept the little girls and did a great job! Thanks daddy, you rock!

Next week...voluteering for Grand Parent's Day! Bring it, I'm ready!