It's Over

I feel like I've been on this marathon. I've been working with two different things (actually three if you count the two different things I'm dealing with at work).

Months ago, I had this vision to have a Bridging Ceremony for the girls in our Service Unit in Girl Scouts. If you don't know Girl Scouts, the hierarchy of Girl Scouts goes as follows:
Troops - These are the groups of girls that you work with. This is the local group of girls, possibly from their own school or neighborhood. These girls get to know each other very well.
Service Unit - Many different troops from the area, say, from a neighborhood or two, form a Service Unit. Troops are different age levels.
Area - Different Service Units form an Area. It is usually an area of town, such as a county or section of town. Where my troop is at, we are part of an Area that is all of Fort Bend county.
Council - Council is who we answer to. Council is made up of all of the different areas. Our council goes from Lufkin to the Gulf Coast and down to Wharton county. Big area!
Girl Scouts USA - The nationwide organization. Our council, along with many other councils, form GSUSA.
W.A.G.G.S. - Stands for World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. GSUSA is part of this worldwide organization.

The reason I mentioned this hierarchy is give you an idea of what we're dealing with. A Bridging Ceremony is when a girl has completed her steps in the current level that she is at and is moving on to the next level in Girl Scouts. Girls move up according to their grade in school. Usually, a bridging ceremony is recognized at the troop level.

So, back to my story. I had this vision of doing a SERVICE UNIT wide event for Bridging girls. I thought that my troop could plan it, and the girls would have a nice event. I was going to bring this idea to our monthly Leader's meeting when the idea was brought up at the Leader's meeting. Our Service Unit manager, Carla, asked if anyone would like to help plan this, and, of course, I raised my hand. Of course, I had no idea what I was getting into.

We first started out to see how many girls would actually be bridging. I sent out an email, asking the leaders to respond back with the number of girls that are bridging. The response was overwhelming! We received close to 90 girls that were bridging! Plus, you add parents, siblings, and other guests, that made the total amount of people close to 300 - 350.

At first my troop and I tried to make the preliminary plans. We looked for a place to hold it and determined we couldn't possibly handle this ourselves. I asked for help. Carla asked if each troop that was bridging to appoint a representative. We set up a meeting and all of the troops' representatives came.

At the meeting, we set up committees, and people started going to work. Corinne was the program committee (no one else signed up on that committee) and she went to work on the program part. In the months to come, we had many meetings and discussions. I had to make hard decisions that didn't make people happy.

This week at work, I had a very hard week. I had TAKS materials that we were dealing with and I was dealing with a Credit by Exam deadline. I had a parent chew me out on Thursday simply because she refused to go to the counselor's office (like she was supposed to) and asked if the Credit by Exam registration form be faxed to her. The counselor tried to fax it to her, but it came out illegible on her end. She called our office to see if we could fax it to her from our office. I was told we had to know what counselor she was dealing with, since it is not our policy to just hand out registration forms, and confirm that it was OK to fax the form to her. Since she only gave me her fax number, I faxed her a note, asking her to give me the name of the school or counselor so that we can confirm it. She called me back and chewed me out, Calling me all kinds of names. After listening to her for 10 minutes, I finally told her that as soon as I confirm it with the counselor, I will fax her the form. When she continued to chew me out, I politely told her that I was hanging up the phone. And I did.

Even though I was getting chewed out by a parent, the funny part was what came next. I went in to tell my boss what was going on, and while I was in his office, the lady called back again. I went back to my desk and my co-worker told me that my daughter was on the phone. I get on the phone, expecting to hear from Corinne. Instead, I hear, "Did she say I was your daughter? How dare she! I AM NOT YOUR DAUGHTER!" Then she started all over again. It was that same lady, calling back for a second chewing. I told her that I'm sorry she was offended and asked what she wanted. More chewing out, and she finally said she didn't want me to fax her the form. She would get it another way.

I found it comical because she was yelling and screaming over something so trivial. She tried to make me feel bad simply because she didn't want to go over to the counselor's office and pick up a form.

So, this and TAKS and the Bridging Ceremony looming, I was stressed out.

Pondering this Thursday evening, I came to the conclusion of something I've been told over and over: Let go and let God. Where people have said they were not going to do something anymore because they decided not to come to the Bridging Ceremony, I've had people step in their place. The Girl Scout ladies have been wonderful to just take care of the details and make everything work.

Friday night, as we were all running around, I stopped for a moment to take it all in. We had cake, punch, and tea. The programs were being passed out. Parents were finding their seats. People were enjoying the slideshow of the girls. And everything was going according to plans. I had to let go and let God. Only God can take my stress and use others to make this happen.

I can't express the thanks I have to these ladies. None of this would have been possible without their help.

So, I'm sitting here, relaxing, and a little less stressed. I'm trying to catch up with stuff at home, and trying to sych myself up to do something I really don't want to do: the troop's financial report. This report is due no later than May 15th, and I REALLY, REALLY have to do them. I just don't like doing them. So, here I am, doing something instead of that. But I got to do them!

Well, that's what I've been up to in the last months. Remember: let go and let God.