A Different Kind of School Nightmare and A Note of Thanks - March 23, 2019
You can’t make dreams like this up.
Last night I dreamed I had volunteered to help at a school on Thursday afternoons. This is nothing new for me but what was new is that I got paired up with a gal who I’ll call Sonora (not her real name, not even close. The name popped into my mind because we are currently living in a desert.) I worked for Sonora up in Sudbury for a brief period and she was a multitalented gal. You never knew what she would do or try next.
In my dream Sonora was working on her teaching certificate while waiting to get into medical school. (!?) Being a classroom assistant was no problem for me. Well, there was one little problem. Sonora was homeschooling her three little boys. (In real life, Sonora doesn’t have three boys.) But she couldn’t afford childcare so these kids were running at large at this school. A school I’ve never been to before and which had an open toilet in the main office. (Gah!)
I asked her why her two older boys just didn’t go into the appropriate classrooms. She told me, “They don’t want to.” I suggested that her toddler could get a spot in a day care. She said, “He’s not having any of that!”
It gets sillier. In my dream, Sonora had me sign an agreement that while I was her volunteer helper, I would only eat Indian Vegan food. I said I could do vegan, no problem. But the Indian part could be a challenge. “Well,” she said, “I am helping to organize a conference on this. The event will happen on May 28th. Be there!” “OK,” I said and I signed the agreement.
Then she told me she wanted me to teach her kids math using money – pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and dollar bills. (We are in the States – no loonies here. My republican and democrat friends – please no comments about this statement. I’m a-political – in Canada and in the US. :) )
But I didn’t have any money on me, so I went to the staff room to get some paper and a marker in order to draw them. When I got there the staff room was full of teachers and kids, and no one would give me any paper. There was a paper shortage. And they did not want to share their markers…even though there were lots of them. What to do?
In my dream, I left the school and walked over to another school and realized en route that I was wearing a bathrobe and slippers. Oh well. One of the secretaries at this school office gave me two sheets of colored paper. They had printing on one side, but no matter, that would work. I didn’t ask for a marker – I was hoping one of the teachers at my original school would give me a broken crayon.
I went back to the school I was volunteering at and rounded up “my kids.” I noted that the toddler was eating all the time and I thought to myself, “This could be the start of a major weight problem.” But I decided to keep my mouth shut. Sonora had enough to worry about. By that time the end of school bell had rang and it was time for everyone to go home.
I said to Sonora, “I am really worried about you. You are going to school, and working, and setting up a conference, and you have three little kids, and…and…and... Have you thought about getting your husband to look after the kids?” She laughed and indicated using her hands that all he would do with them was play videogames.
I told Sonora that I was only willing to volunteer Thursday afternoons as I had other commitments, but I would find workbooks for the kids – appropriate to their ages – that they could work on in my absence. She was OK with that. Not happy, but OK. I could sense her disappointment.
But a supervisor from the main office marched out and was OPENLY NOT VERY HAPPY with me at all. She scolded me for not coming prepared with my own paper, and markers, and workbooks. She asked me, “If I can’t trust you to do small things, how can I trust you with bigger things?!” (My Christian friends will recognise the Biblical reference from the Gospel of Matthew.)
I didn’t have an answer. But I thought to myself, “You know, I’m working on a Master’s degree to be a Medical Social Worker. I could be using my time on that right now instead of later today.” But I didn’t say it. And truly, in real life, I am not.
Still in my dream, Laur was due to pick me up with the car, so I wanted to get outside to meet him. And when I got outside, the sun was shining, the grass was green, the sky was blue – AND I realized that I had an entire outfit on under my housecoat, so I needn’t have worried after all. My dream ended on a note of happiness and calm!
*****
What to make of this dream? Not much. I don’t put any faith in dreams. It is true that in real life I am not very confident and I worry a lot. But I’m still willing to tackle most anything and CAN BE VERY ASSERTIVE. Just ask my hubs.
I think it’s because I’ve been working on the Green Valley RV Resort newsletter and am so very aware how hard many of the Activities Committee and GVRVR volunteers work. Me and my hubs – I call us “Volunteers-Lite.” We do things that are easy as pie for us. (OK, a lot easier than pie. I’m not very at home in the kitchen.) And we block out lots of time for doing the things we love - hiking and swimming and writing and going out for good eats, etc.
Our volunteering is time-limited to a few hours on any particular day and we get lots of thanks. So I am gob-smacked when I hear of folks grumbling to or about the dedicated almost full-time volunteers about what I consider to be very small things.
And I find it remarkable that the folks being complained to just smile, smooth feathers, and bite their tongues. I have enough of my Granny Marj in me to know that I might just say…”Are you talking to ME!?” Or “Could you please repeat that because I don’t think I could have heard you right!”
What to do? I love what J & A, our park managers – who put up with more than their share of grousing – wrote in our April Newsletter. I’m paraphrasing a little.
“A special thank you to the Entertainment (Hi M & M!) and Kitchen Crew (too many to name) for the absolutely fabulous job, as always, and to the chair of our Activities Committee (Hi CD!) for her untiring leadership. Our community is truly blessed by what they do for us. BE SURE TO LET THEM KNOW!”
To our Green Valley RV Park volunteers and staff, I thank you with my whole heart – and sometimes even with my mouth. 😊”
Last night I dreamed I had volunteered to help at a school on Thursday afternoons. This is nothing new for me but what was new is that I got paired up with a gal who I’ll call Sonora (not her real name, not even close. The name popped into my mind because we are currently living in a desert.) I worked for Sonora up in Sudbury for a brief period and she was a multitalented gal. You never knew what she would do or try next.
In my dream Sonora was working on her teaching certificate while waiting to get into medical school. (!?) Being a classroom assistant was no problem for me. Well, there was one little problem. Sonora was homeschooling her three little boys. (In real life, Sonora doesn’t have three boys.) But she couldn’t afford childcare so these kids were running at large at this school. A school I’ve never been to before and which had an open toilet in the main office. (Gah!)
I asked her why her two older boys just didn’t go into the appropriate classrooms. She told me, “They don’t want to.” I suggested that her toddler could get a spot in a day care. She said, “He’s not having any of that!”
It gets sillier. In my dream, Sonora had me sign an agreement that while I was her volunteer helper, I would only eat Indian Vegan food. I said I could do vegan, no problem. But the Indian part could be a challenge. “Well,” she said, “I am helping to organize a conference on this. The event will happen on May 28th. Be there!” “OK,” I said and I signed the agreement.
Then she told me she wanted me to teach her kids math using money – pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and dollar bills. (We are in the States – no loonies here. My republican and democrat friends – please no comments about this statement. I’m a-political – in Canada and in the US. :) )
But I didn’t have any money on me, so I went to the staff room to get some paper and a marker in order to draw them. When I got there the staff room was full of teachers and kids, and no one would give me any paper. There was a paper shortage. And they did not want to share their markers…even though there were lots of them. What to do?
In my dream, I left the school and walked over to another school and realized en route that I was wearing a bathrobe and slippers. Oh well. One of the secretaries at this school office gave me two sheets of colored paper. They had printing on one side, but no matter, that would work. I didn’t ask for a marker – I was hoping one of the teachers at my original school would give me a broken crayon.
I went back to the school I was volunteering at and rounded up “my kids.” I noted that the toddler was eating all the time and I thought to myself, “This could be the start of a major weight problem.” But I decided to keep my mouth shut. Sonora had enough to worry about. By that time the end of school bell had rang and it was time for everyone to go home.
I said to Sonora, “I am really worried about you. You are going to school, and working, and setting up a conference, and you have three little kids, and…and…and... Have you thought about getting your husband to look after the kids?” She laughed and indicated using her hands that all he would do with them was play videogames.
I told Sonora that I was only willing to volunteer Thursday afternoons as I had other commitments, but I would find workbooks for the kids – appropriate to their ages – that they could work on in my absence. She was OK with that. Not happy, but OK. I could sense her disappointment.
But a supervisor from the main office marched out and was OPENLY NOT VERY HAPPY with me at all. She scolded me for not coming prepared with my own paper, and markers, and workbooks. She asked me, “If I can’t trust you to do small things, how can I trust you with bigger things?!” (My Christian friends will recognise the Biblical reference from the Gospel of Matthew.)
I didn’t have an answer. But I thought to myself, “You know, I’m working on a Master’s degree to be a Medical Social Worker. I could be using my time on that right now instead of later today.” But I didn’t say it. And truly, in real life, I am not.
Still in my dream, Laur was due to pick me up with the car, so I wanted to get outside to meet him. And when I got outside, the sun was shining, the grass was green, the sky was blue – AND I realized that I had an entire outfit on under my housecoat, so I needn’t have worried after all. My dream ended on a note of happiness and calm!
*****
What to make of this dream? Not much. I don’t put any faith in dreams. It is true that in real life I am not very confident and I worry a lot. But I’m still willing to tackle most anything and CAN BE VERY ASSERTIVE. Just ask my hubs.
I think it’s because I’ve been working on the Green Valley RV Resort newsletter and am so very aware how hard many of the Activities Committee and GVRVR volunteers work. Me and my hubs – I call us “Volunteers-Lite.” We do things that are easy as pie for us. (OK, a lot easier than pie. I’m not very at home in the kitchen.) And we block out lots of time for doing the things we love - hiking and swimming and writing and going out for good eats, etc.
Our volunteering is time-limited to a few hours on any particular day and we get lots of thanks. So I am gob-smacked when I hear of folks grumbling to or about the dedicated almost full-time volunteers about what I consider to be very small things.
And I find it remarkable that the folks being complained to just smile, smooth feathers, and bite their tongues. I have enough of my Granny Marj in me to know that I might just say…”Are you talking to ME!?” Or “Could you please repeat that because I don’t think I could have heard you right!”
What to do? I love what J & A, our park managers – who put up with more than their share of grousing – wrote in our April Newsletter. I’m paraphrasing a little.
“A special thank you to the Entertainment (Hi M & M!) and Kitchen Crew (too many to name) for the absolutely fabulous job, as always, and to the chair of our Activities Committee (Hi CD!) for her untiring leadership. Our community is truly blessed by what they do for us. BE SURE TO LET THEM KNOW!”
To our Green Valley RV Park volunteers and staff, I thank you with my whole heart – and sometimes even with my mouth. 😊”