Learning New Tricks

Closing in on two years in Arden, and I am starting to understand the pace, the calendar, the way things work. I am in the groove. I was recruited to be on the Arden Community Recreation Board (ACRA) in January 2014, just months after we moved in. If you ask other board members, they were snagged early in their Arden career as well. That's the way of it; all committees are always trolling for fresh meat. This committee seemed a good fit for me. I enjoy helping to plan recreational activities. I have creative flair and lots of ideas. Though don't ask certain people. It was partially my idea that had us gluing cotton balls and small mirror disks to fishing line to hang in the Gild Hall to simulate snow and ice during the Holiday Party. You have no idea what it is to transport and hang 60 such lines at 14' a piece. I may never live that one down.

The biggest piece of the ACRA calendar is the Summer Program. It is a five-week program, three hours a day/ five days a week, for all kids of the Ardens. And it is all run on donations. In general, the  program gives kids about five or six options of activities for the morning hours. They choose what they would like to spend their time doing. The art room, outdoor activities, playground are always options. In addition,  the committee brings in guests from the community to interact with the kids and supply other activities. An excellent way to build community ties across generation, ACRA Summer Program has be in existence since well---forever?? That's an exaggeration, but of all the adults who I know who grew up in Arden, I have yet to meet one who didn't participate in Summer Program as a kid. Last year when I ended up on the Summer Program committee, I was a little intimidated. I didn't even know the mechanics of it, much less the people who have run it for years. It took me a while to get up to speed. Terri (one of those adults who went to the program as a kid) gave me the job of securing playground monitors, and I even did that badly. I talked to a few people, got them signed up for the first week, but relied on the program registration process to recruit the rest of the (mostly) parent volunteers.

As I was learning what the program was all about, I hung out at the Buzz: volunteering for the playground myself, teaching journaling as a club, and interviewing staff to see that their needs were being met. I began to get a feel for this crown jewel of Arden activities. I helped out with the history hunt as kids got clues at various historical spots around Arden. I, too, learned facts of the town. I saw the cookie baskets that the kids prepared for the over-eighties Ardenites and realized the lengths this town goes to connect its population, to involve those who are at risk for feeling shut-in.

Fast-forward to this year. I am on the committee again, and I am emailing and calling folks all over town to come and spend the day at the Buzz-- asking them to showcase artwork, lead groups in drumming, build forts, teach drawing, garden--sharing any and all skills they have with the young people. I know who to call and have thought up some new people to involve. I am astonished at the network and the understanding that I have developed in such a short time being immersed in this community. It almost feels like I have broken the code on a foreign language.

I addition to my duties with ACRA, I am helping create a sign for the G-Arden that will be on display for the House and Garden tour that is coming up. This weekend, I will take a route and go door-to-door soliciting donations for ACRA. Tonight, I am going to the Civic committee meeting to talk to them about a project that Keri and I would like to initiate in Arden (more on that after the meeting).

I am not writing this to toot my own horn, but because I am amazed at how useful I feel in this community.  They have taken me in and put me to work. They are using me in ways that are natural for me (sign design) and ways that are completely out of my comfort zone and make me grow (going door-to-door asking for money and calling people up on the telephone). I love to cook, but I have never cooked a dinner for a group of people in triple digits as I did when I was lead cook for Dinner Gild.

I am forty-six years old. I am learning new tricks. (Connect your own dots on that saying.) I knew I would come to Arden and have to learn my way around--find a new pharmacy or favorite date night restaurant, for instance. But I had no idea how much this community would challenge me. How I would have to step up to meet its expectations. I am not the same person I was when I came here. I have more confidence in myself. I see possibilities in areas I never knew before. Arden is fashioning me to become more useful to the community at large. Girl's got skillz. I apologize for the 'z'  but I am feeling some extra pizazz. Translated back into 46-year old, white woman speak: I am going to need to update my resume.