Encouraging Day

Well, as soon as I typed that last post, I got that serious emotion out of my system and felt better.

Today a lot of positive things happened, e.g.

- I sent out an email as 7B Room Parent for our school, appealing for three volunteers to bring food or help at the Staff Appreciation Luncheon next week, and by the end of the afternoon, all three spots were filled.

- The Volunteer Coordinator at the local hospital called me and said she'd received the reference letters for me and wanted to make an appointment for next week to introduce me to the head of the ward I'll be volunteering in (God willing, if it is a fit for both sides). Progress in the long process...next I have to fill out a Criminal Records Bureau form (fortunately I'm already familiar with those since I did it for the school earlier in the year).

- Someone who saw the "Moms in Touch prayer group" flyer I put up in the school lobby called me! Eight of the ten tabs with my contact information have been torn off, but not a single person had called or emailed until today. She'd like to join us for our weekly hour of corporate prayer for our kids and the school and staff. We've only had two or three people usually lately, but yesterday we had a little surge to five.

- The Head of School asked my first name (again) and said she finds my smile "welcoming" in the mornings as I drop off my kids (as she welcomes the arriving families).

- An acquaintance at school mentioned out of the blue that she's looking forward to coming to our next dance evening (which is not until June 9th, a month away!).

- Another neighbour volunteered for the first time to host the next coffee for ladies on our street. This will be our fifth monthly meeting, and the networking has been great. There are fifteen ladies involved now - I've never known so many people by name in my neighborhood in any of the ten places I've lived. Hurrah for the email age for getting these coffee RSVPs flying (so that we can actually get together face to face once a month!).

- I had a nice talk with my 12-year-old son in the car this morning before dropping him off. One of those active listening sessions during which I looked straight in his eyes while he was talking, and mostly replied with "hmmm" or "oh..." and let him continue, occasionally interjecting, "So it sounds like you feel xyz..." It is so great to connect with one's pre-teen, practicing for the now and the not yet. It's amazing how helpful expressing one's feelings is, even if no solution is offered.

- After my 9-year-old daughter freaked out over her upcoming piano recital (with comments like "I want to quit piano"), I called her teacher and asked for a reduction in the number of pieces she would be required to play (with specific ones deleted from the program, ones Emily doesn't want to play). The teacher was more than accommodating, immediately striking them from the program, and saying that she had been going to call us, as the concert was going to be too long as planned. Emily was thrilled.

A "quite good" day, as the British would say (meaning excellent!).