Volunteering

I volunteered again this morning. When I told Phil that I had volunteered for something, he just glared at me sideways while clenching his teeth. Why would my loving husband have such a negative reaction to me volunteering for something? Well, I used to be somewhat of a volunteering addict, that's why.

When Sarah and Emily were little, I started volunteering in their schools. I started out just reading to Emily's preschool class and helping out with parties for Sarah's class. That led to volunteering for picture day, becoming the Class Mom, and becoming a Girl Scout leader. From there, I took on more positions within the Girl Scout service unit, I joined the PTA board and the School Advisory Committee, and I became the soccer Team Mom.

Eventually, with the help of my family, friends, and doctors, I was able to see that I was doing too much and needed to step back. I cut most of it out right away, and by the time Katie was born, I had cut it all out. It was actually pretty liberating. For an entire year, I didn't volunteer for anything. My family had me all to themselves.

I have since only volunteered on occasion for temporary things - chaperoning field trips, working picture day, driving for Girl Scouts. But this morning, I volunteered for a more permanent gig. I volunteered to teach the kindergarten/preschool religious education class at my church. I figured that it won't be too much work for me because the curriculum is provided by the church and the class will be very small. I've also worked with groups of children this age before.

Of course, my volunteering isn't completely out of the goodness of my heart. Sure, I like to help out whenever and wherever I can, but the main reason I volunteered to teach this class is so that I won't have to pay for my own children's religious education classes. And Phil can't argue with that!