1) Our Memorial Day event is FULL! We are bringing 15 Gang Members to Flags for Fort Snelling. We are so excited!
2) We still need 9 people to sign up for our June 3rd opportunity, Girls on the Run 5k Water Spot. All the information to sign up for this event is on our “Events” page on this website or on the pinned post on our Facebook page! Can’t wait to cheer these girls on!
3) Our annual Amazing Race event will be held on Saturday, June 16th. Much more info will be given SOON, but for now, mark your calendars!
On to the blog post!
Due to the always interesting Minnesota weather, the Earth Day Clean-Up on 4/21 needed to be rescheduled to 5/12. We had several people able to make it to the original date, but as we got closer to the rescheduled date most of those people were unable to make it. I woke up the morning of the 12th not sure if we would have a Gang or not!
I was *this close* to canceling…after all, it wasn’t technically “our” event, Minneapolis Parks and Rec was hosting and surely they would be just fine without me. I decided to follow through (which is something I’m also working on in my personal life) and went anyway.
It was a beautiful day at Loring Park. It was a very easy check-in progress and in about one minute I was free to head out on my own. I’ll admit, I was slightly bummed that I was alone. How did we go from a group of 10 to only 1? I wasn’t upset with anyone in particular, more that I was looking forward to having our Gang there and now it was “just” me. Then I remembered that I wasn’t the only person on earth and looked around me. There were about 10 volunteers total. A good number, but not an amazing number. I started changing the story in my head from UGH to YAY.
YAY-I got out to the park when it would’ve been easy to stay home.
YAY-I can take this little section of the park and the other people here can take their section and before you know it, Loring Park will be beautimus.
YAY-I’m outside on a lovely day instead of snowed in.
YAY-I have this time to give back to this park that has been very good to TSSG.
One person can make a difference. This one person is making a difference in this little section of this little park in this little city in this little state. And that matters. And that person over there? They are doing the same thing. And that person over there? THEY are doing the same thing. And it matters. All of it matters as it is making this park better for everyone who enjoys it.
And I started to feel joyFULL. And grateFULL. And I wasn’t bummed anymore that I was by myself, because in reality, I wasn’t alone. There were people all over the park helping, too.
So, I suppose the first lesson here is: Whatever you are looking for in life, it’s important to know that there are others doing it, too (or something similar) but you need to keep your head up to see them and you might need to go introduce yourself. Something I was about to do when I hear a familiar voice…
“Oh, that IS you!” Here comes one of the world’s greatest people, Mo. I’ve been friends with Mo for a very long time, plus she is a TSSG Ambassador so I KNOW she loves to help out. I teared up when I saw her. Even though I had become content in hanging by myself for the morning, it was just so WONDERFUL to see her! We walked around the park and picked up trash and recycling and talked about everything…which is one of the best things about Mo. Everything with her is seamless and in no time at all you’ve covered more topics than you thought you could ever get to in just a few short hours.
And then we had iced tea. And it was a perfect morning. And I left feeling joyFULL and grateFULL.
So, I suppose the second lesson here is: Sometimes things don’t turn out the way you were hoping, but it’s exactly what you needed in that moment. You can’t always get what you want, but you’ll find sometimes, you get what you need. Hmmm. That’s good. Someone should write a song about that.
One person can make a difference. YOU are that one person, so go out and do it.
But bring a friend if you can.
Great mission!