volunteering

I'm sure that it'll get old eventually, but unemployment, so far, has been a genuine gift to me. Just as I'd hoped, I've been filling my days with reading, running, biking, thinking, and, most of all, volunteering for things that I've always meant to do but somehow never felt I had the time or energy for.

Yesterday was my favorite so far: it started with the Hollywood Farmer's Market, which I've been working for all summer. There is nothing about farmer's markets that fails to make me happy. From fruits, little kids mawing on cinnamon rolls as big as their heads, piles of fresh produce, farmers who are so psyched to talk about their farms and food with you, and the general good community cheer that a local farmer's market brings, plus the feeling of working together to pull something like that off, there is everything in the world to bring a smile to my face. I love working for my farmer's market.



And continuing the food theme, yesterday evening James and I went down to the Blanchet House, a place that provides food, shelter, and clothing to people in need. We worked a dinner shift--James bused tables and I got to actually serve meals to a parade of homeless folk who came in and out during the hour that dinner was available. We left feeling like we'd done something useful and tangible. And funnily enough, later, we saw two of the folks we'd served meals to biking their way down to their Springwater Corridor "homes."

This kind of stuff is making me feel so much more connected to the community around me, and I love it. Now if only I were independently wealthy and could spend ALL my time doing this, with nary a thought of money or job...;)