Everybody’s got a Story. Tell us yours!
Question #4: August 8, 2013
Tell us… What did you do the last time you were part of something greater than yourself?
Lee’s Story:
Up until my parents divorced when I was in my mid to late 20′s, our immediate family had consisted of 5 people: mom, dad, me, 2 brothers. When I was in my late 20′s my dad started dating a women who had been his sister’s best friend in high school. Dad was divorced with kids, she was divorced with kids. After a few years they married, blending a family with 6 grown kids, sons and daughters-in law so that the family, including mom, had grown immensely. I had 3 new brothers, fully grown as if they’d sprung from Zeus’ forehead.
Although many blended families fail miserably, ours is a fabulous example of all that a family can be. We are diverse, love each other, find joy in each others triumphs and are there to console each other in times of heartache. Not that we don’t have dissenting opinions on occasion, or argue with vigor – we are a passionate, opinionated crew – but despite the fact we are spread all over the country, we know that all of us are family.
We have stood together as we have: celebrated birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, weddings and births; watched our kids grow up, graduate, and start to build lives of their own; buried both of our fathers; lived through serious illnesses and surgeries; leaned on each other for support; laughed out loud and more often than imaginable.
Was I ever part of something greater than myself? You betcha…I’m part of a great blended family that stretches from one end of the country to the other.
What about YOU? Have you been part of something greater than yourself? Please share YOUR story with US!
Barbara’s Story:
Aristotle said “The sum of it’s parts are greater than it’s whole” That’s kind of the way I felt when I attended the very first Community Event I was in charge of.
Like so many things in the Non Profit world, my first job as a Director at Muscular Dystrophy Association started with walking into a mess! The organization had been through a couple short term Directors and I was there to clean things up.
The minutia involved in putting on a large scale community event (something I had never done before!) was overwhelming. I think that’s where my newbie experience was helpful…I wasn’t aware at all the things that could go wrong.
There were city permits, hundreds of volunteers and logistics of this event….Oh yeah, and I was supposed to make money at this!
The city was tired of the revolving door that seemingly existed on the front door of this agency and weren’t really all that pleased with having to produce permits asked for by previous directors, who had failed to keep track of the permits. The volunteers had lost interest and in the world of Non Profit, getting the good volunteers is a very competitive part of fund raising. Logistics….oh, man logistics! We had to put up fences, porta potties, bands to be scheduled, media to invite…..oh help me.
I got my key volunteers together one night at a local bar and bought them all drinks. We had a very frank chat and I assured them I was here to stay. It was easy to bond with these people, I began to care about them and count on each and every one of them. Their drive to help put on an event we were all proud of was incredible.
Since I was new, I trusted…I trusted people would do what they said they would do, I trusted if we built it people would come and I trusted if everyone had a good time we would be successful at fundraising.
On the evening before the main event we had a party. It was the biggest party I had ever thrown. I remember standing in a corner of the room watching the activities and absolutely bowled over by the number of people there, everyone was having a great time and I got THANKED by a mother with a son in a wheel chair for caring…Imagine!
I went on to have a lengthy career in Non Profit. The volunteers became my friends and my friends became my volunteers. That picture above…that’s Lee and I, circa 1994 (ish). We flew to Kansas City to judge a Barbecue Contest, just because I thought it would be fun to add to this event next year.
Tags: everybody's got a story, middlesage, part of something greater than yourself, tell us
Writing a blog for the purpose of helping those suffering midlife ennui is doing something much bigger than myself.
After going through divorce, job loss and career loss and suffering the dark night of my soul alone back in the early 2000s, I want to help others realize exactly how normal and natural midlife chaos really is… That’s also why I write my books.
Now I say the more midlife crises, the longer you live!
Laura Lee Carter aka the Midlife Crisis Queen recently posted…Surprise Yourself
Laura – it seems its true “that which doesn’t kills us makes us stronger.” It sounds like you’ve learned a lot about yourself on your journey and used it to help others. Great story! Thank your for sharing!
After being a part of the film industry in Baton Rouge, LA for many years, after the legislature passed 2002 legislation favorable to bringing filming to LA, I found myself in the position of being able to encourage our mayor to actively promote Baton Rouge and the surrounding areas as a location. He invited me to serve as one of a team of advisors to the Baton Rouge Film Commission, which I did for several years as the industry grew. Today , film trucks are a familiar sight here and we’ve brought close to a billion dollars worth of projects to the area. It’s an awesome and humbling feeling to have helped set this in motion.
Melinda Walsh
Melinda – that’s really something to be proud of. I’ve seen something similar happen in my home state of Michigan, but not nearly to the success that Baton Rouge has seen. Congrats on helping the city, the state and all the people who benefited from your push. Thank you for sharing a great story!