The Best Laid Plans and all that...

I had a great sort of plan for this evening involving knitting a 2nd mouse mitten and joining Ginny at Small Things for her Yarnalong. I was going to putter in the garden for a few minutes and clean up the kitchen while my kids were at Cubs and Scouts tonight. But as all plans sometimes go this one went totally out the window when The Em-ster found out the Cubs were picking up garbage in the school yard in honour of Earth Day and she WAS NOT going. Despite much encouragement and-I'll admit it-a little well-placed guilt she WAS NOT going.
I send her to Cubs partly because of the sense of community service it instills. I think cleaning up garbage in parks, collecting for the food bank and volunteering her time are just as important as earning badges and going to camp. I want my kids to know they have to participate in the work as well as the fun stuff.
So, with a sigh and the realization that there goes my quiet kid-free evening I joined her and the other leaders to help out. I was hoping I would only have to be there for a little while and then I could say my good byes, accept my thanks and go home and knit.
That was not to be. They were short on leaders and long on supervision-intensive kids and I was in it for the long haul. It seems garbage collecting was not the only thing on their to do list and I found myself pulling a wagon and keeping an eye on kids while they went door to door asking for donations for the food bank.
In a past life I was a Cub leader for 3 years. I remember (vaguely) how this goes and it started to feel like an old comfortable pair of shoes. Granted one with worn out soles as my patience with children is not what it was when I was 17.
It was a cold, windy evening and in my naive state at 6:30pm I had just thrown on a fleece and a spring coat thinking foolishly that I would only be outside for 30-45 mins. 90 frigid minutes later, fingers numb, back aching and wishing fervently for His Lordship to appear in the car (he did not) we were on our way home a la pied.
I am chilled and tired but curiously satisfied. It was interesting seeing how my daughter interacts with a group of children, mostly boys. I was clearly a big help to the leaders and we collected a lot of food for our food bank.
I can't always be in that place where I can help out at meetings. Often I need the time apart from my children to having some breathing space, take a break from my day and everybody needing something from me. I need to look after my own needs so I can look after everyone else's tomorrow. But when I can be in that place it is worth it and that always comes as a nice surprise to me.