A Stone In A Road

When I was thirteen and Mom turned forty, I thought she was old. Dad was 14 years older than her and I thought him really old. Children think their parents are old and that they are not up on things that they, the kids know about. I use to think Dad was old because he did not know anything about the music I liked that was popular then. I thought he was smart, good and kind, but really believed he was so old fashioned in his ideas. Mom I thought a bit more up to date on daily events that concerned a kid. Dad knew what was going on in the world. He was very well read and spoke eloquently in a very deep voice. He sang in a temple choir and had a deep bass singing voice and was very proud of going there to rehearse every Tuesday night. It was his night out and he enjoyed the practice immensely. It was all volunteer and no one got paid for coming and singing at the events, they were chosen to participate in. Mom volunteered at Sinai Hospital and worked in the well-baby clinic one day a week. She looked cute in her yellow pinafore uniform with its short sleeve white blouse. She was proud of her pin on it with her name and volunteer underneath the name line. She enjoyed that and then switched to working in the lobby of the hospital gift shop. She enjoyed that more and loved seeing the happy patients and their friends and families come in to choose small gifts for the person in the hospital. She liked when someone bought a present for a newborn at the store and she would wrap the gift with pretty baby wrapping paper and learned how to make fancy bows to put on top of the box. I volunteered in the afternoon school called Hebrew School for religious learning for the seven to thirteen year old Jewish boys and girls. They went there in preparation for their confirmations at age thirteen. It was called for boys Bar Mitzvah and for girls Bat Mitzvah. I was vice president of the PTA there and gave of my spare time to have parties for some particular holidays. For Chanukah, we had latkes (potato pancakes) and snacks and candy for the Chanukah party for the kids. We also had boiled hotdogs, rolls, and chips too. I remember standing at the huge boiling pot with the water finally getting hot and all the volunteer moms throwing in the hotdogs for boiling. Then we took them out and put each one in a roll and wrapped it with Reynolds Wrap foil and set the huge tables and gave out the food for an early dinner. They only that party day had fifteen minutes of class and the rest of the two hours was for the party. The kids liked the boiled hotdogs that was how they were made in our homes too; there was not much grilling in those days except at your home, if you had an outside grill. Boiling them was the easy way for a big crowd of several hundred kids. They played board games and when their parents came to pick them up, they needed no dinner. For other holidays, there were different foods and that was my volunteering career in full force for several years. If there were left over hotdogs, we, volunteers would put some in a bag and take them home for our husband’s dinner, since we were there all afternoon doing this at the school. We did not have time to make dinner. One lady came in to pick up her child and started to collect some left over hotdogs for her own dinner. I said “wait a minute, these are for us ladies who worked all afternoon, they are for our children and husband at home. You did not volunteer, there is none for you.” I only said this because I knew she could have helped, she did not work at a job; she liked to run around having lunch, fun and shopping. She was asked to help us in the preparation of the food, in setting the tables, in serving and she declined. Therefore, she was not entitled to take home food as we were. She looked at me like I was rude. I looked back at her and did not give in.There were about nine of us who did all the work and there was enough for the nine of us to have an easy dinner for the rest of the family, since we were quite tired. We had shopped for the food, brought it and that all took many hours. The next time we had a party for a different holiday, she was asked again to help and she said no, and she did not come to take her free goodies when it was over. She sent her husband and he tried to gather up some left over chocolate cupcakes, that were there for the desserts. Another lady, told him no, they were leftovers for the volunteers. So Dad with his choir singing, Mom with her gift shop work and me with the religious school functions, all did our special and unique kind of volunteering and it was a good feeling to know you helped someone or lots of people and you made their day happier. My dear friend Steven Behr of Washington State and his friend Ikuko volunteer and go to Hawaii every year for over twenty-five years and they teach the Hawaiians to ballroom dance and they give exhibition dance showcases at nursing and retirement homes. They are loved by the people and are invited again for 2017. My friend Rene Zgraggen of Montgomery, Alabama volunteers his time with a wonderful, useful and informative website which he keeps up to date about all the dance events going on in Alabama and the neighboring states. This takes lots of time and he does a fantastic job relating everything happening about dance there. I know lots of young ladies who run in races to raise money for charities and some ride their bikes for charities. They earn a lot of money for specific ones and they are fabulous representatives of ladies in their forties doing good for others. The two are Jill Rosenthal Bass and Jill Eisenberg. They go far sometimes in traveling to get to the race and some are closer to home. They deserve lots of credit, because they are two working full time people at their regular jobs and do this running and biking on the weekends. Volunteers come in all ages, all shapes, all sizes, and all religions. Bravo to them for doing fine things for others and being what we call mensch (good souls). Emily Dickinson wrote: how happy is the little stone That rambles in the road alone and doesn’t care about careers And independent as the sun associates or glows alone Fulfilling absolute decree in casual simplicity. This is what volunteers do. They are like little stones working with others or even alone accomplishing good for a charity of their loving and they glow and fulfill the absolute highest amount of what a person can give or do. They may ride a bike, walk a marathon, volunteer in a school, give of their time in a hospital gift shop, sing in a choir or dance for residents in nursing and retirement homes. Anyway they do it, they are heroes and heroines for bringing peace, contentment, money, time and themselves for others and they make the others’ lives more fulfilled and complete. They volunteer not only their personal spare time; they volunteer their love for mankind and womankind and for all the young children that may benefit from this activity. To give of your love to strangers is a mode of the highest form. Add an L to mode and you have MODEL. A model of a genuine person who gives of him/her self to others is a model to imitate for everyone out there. This is a true model for all of us who have spare time; this is being a true mensch. To be a good soul and or a mensch is a very high ideal we can attain to at any age. We will not ramble in the road alone as a single stone. We will be a large, bright and loving stone in a road leading to a happy home. elita sohmer clayman Fairfax Station Patch