Some Things Happened in September

Since the beginning of my term as an AmeriCorps NCCC FEMA Corps Team Leader, a lot of my individual freedoms have been somewhat stripped. I am required to wear a uniform, I need to be on campus at certain hours, I have places to be at specific times, and I have a team to take care of, among other things. I have standards to uphold and rules to follow…but unlike most Corps Members, I do not feel constrained by these guidelines. I have actually found myself growing more in the past three months than I have in the past three years. The guidelines I am expected to uphold as a Team Leader are helping me make safer, smarter, and healthier decisions for my life. I get more sleep, read more books, spend less money, and create more meaningful relationships with those around me. I attribute a lot of this success to the fact that I have less time for myself…so I’m using it more wisely and what a wonderful transformation I have seen thus far. Below are a few things that helped me really feel like me this month:

Exercise, exercise, exercise.

September is the month that I discovered the close-by and beautiful look-out over the Mississippi River. Within about two weeks, I visited that look-out at least five times…with five different groups of people. Some days, I walked in conversation with fellow Team Leaders, other days, I ran it. Sometimes I travelled there with the intention of catching the sunset and other times, it was just a beautiful backdrop for the start of a beautiful day. This location…and the way I travelled to it…made for a perfect escape from responsibilities without being too out of touch of reality.

Ultimate Frisbee. Enough said.

Taking Time to Have a Conversation

I have recently begun telling myself “Any day I have a non-work related conversation is a good day.” This is a realization that actually brings me a large amount of sadness—so frequently I operate as “Team Leader Shannon” 24-hours straight and multiple days in a row.  It does make those few moments of honest, friendly indulgence even better, though. Finally, about halfway through September, I took the time to put off tomorrow’s responsibilities and stopped venting about daily aggravations to get to know one of my fellow Team Leaders better. We talked about our lack-of-love lives, friendships we have back home, and things we both do to maintain our sanity on a regular basis. It was refreshing and freeing to be someone’s friend again. Our opportunities to get to know each other better are few and far between now…but I’m grateful for those few hours I set aside to deepen a friendship.

Going to Church

As I’ve mentioned in past posts, I attend a church called Cedar Grove in Vicksburg, Mississippi. This is the first time in a long time that I have chosen to go to church as a member of the congregation…not as a member of the choir. It’s funny though…the reason, I’ve found, that I love this church so much is that everyone is a part of the choir. The music is all-consuming. I am intoxicated by the experience every week that I attend.

Bayou 6—“Sassy Six”

In the beginning of September, I had the joy of meeting my permanent team. For those of you who know me in any capacity, you know that I get really excited about certain things…and sometimes I make a fool of myself. Well, Team Reveal Day, I fulfilled both of those aspects of my personality. After anxiously awaiting the arrival of my new team, I announced that I was their permanent Team Leader! J Very soon after this revelation, I half-choked on the gluten-free cookies I made for them and drooled all over my shirt. Great first impression, Shan.

While my team is full of…personality…each and every member has an unbelievable amount of goodness in their heart. I am very lucky to say that I get along with all of my Corps Members; they all just don’t necessarily get along with one another all the time. Baby steps, right? September was challenging for this new team (but as of 95% of the way through October, team morale is “good”). J

FEMA Corps Class 20 Induction Ceremony

Wow. Just wow. This ceremony was beautiful. The AmeriChoir, organized by my lovely roommate, sounded incredible on the National Anthem, one of my Corps Members was the emcee (proud Team Leader moment), the Corps Member reflection speaker was hilarious, the AmeriCorps 20^th Anniversary video was inspirational, and the AmeriBand’s rendition of “Home” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros had me sobbing like a baby—seriously, ask anyone. Another one of my Corps Member was the trumpet player in the song…so of course, when everyone cheered at her solo I cried even more. The five minutes in which the band played “Home”, my mind raced with pride for my team, for my positive decisions since beginning this program, I reflected on the friendships fostered during our months of training, and reveled in the unknowns of the coming year.

The Simple Serendipities

As always, there were wonderful things that happened this month that I couldn’t box in—I love when that happens. Here’s what made me smile this month:

Celebrating Accomplishments. One of my very dearest friends returned to the United States after a year of traveling the world. Yes, the world. Check out his blog here: www.thequestforawesome.com. I am so proud of you for following your heart and accomplishing your dream, David.

Rain. As it always does. There was one particular day this month that the rain was relentless. My team and I had to walk about 100 feet in the rain…really not that far, and every last one of us was soaked to the bone. I took a few moments longer outside stood with my arms outstretched and let the rain consume me. All my problems washed away. I felt brand new.

“I promise to ask for help” Contract. On a particularly challenging day with my team, a fellow Team Leader wrote a contract on a scrap piece of paper for both him and me. It is signed and dated. It’s such a small gesture…but it meant so much more than the verbal promise of: “Call if you ever need help”. I carry this piece of paper with me everywhere, just in case I need a little reminder to ask for help.

Camp Duncan Gray. Ah, the location of my best night’s sleep ever. This gorgeous campground is located in Canton, Mississippi next to a serene lake. Even with the insanity of training, feeding my team, managing conflicts, and clearing trails…I felt peacefulness every time I laid eyes on the neighboring lake. The combination of creaking crickets, endlessly starry night skies, and the reflections of the lake made me never want to leave.

Momma Visited! My mother has always shown me a ridiculous amount of support in every last thing I do. Her coming all the way out to Mississippi was yet another one of her ways to show how much she loves, supports, and misses me. We went out to dinners just the two of us, she met some of my closest friends I’ve made through this program, she met my team, we talked for hours on end, and she just did Mom things. I felt taken care of. It was perfect. Thank you again, Mom. 

The First Week in Iowa

My team and I arrived in Urbandale, Iowa last weekend! While our two days of driving were long and exhausting, we did stop for delicious (and gluten-free!) food at the very least. Already, in the first week of inhabiting Iowa, I have discovered people, grocery stores, and restaurants in the area that actually understand what “gluten-free” means. What a huge relief! Mississippi was an unrealistic representation of the rest of the United States, thankfully.

Last weekend was the first official weekend of our deployment…and my goodness was it hard for me. My team is finally hanging out (without me urging them to) so I was incredibly grateful…but I was also incredibly lonely. Unlike the majority of FEMA Corps Southern Region teams, I am one of the two teams that were deployed alone. As I’m sure you all recognize from past posts—the group of Team Leaders (Team Green) is my undying support system…and now I am entirely without them. Yes, each and every one of them is just a phone call away (and yes, I have already abused that), but there is no longer someone welcoming me home with a “How was your day? Do you want to talk about it?”

My first night in Urbandale was a lonely one and significantly more challenging than I expected it could possibly be. I longed for a Team Leader to talk with, to distract me, to make me laugh, to remind me that being a Team Leader isa challenge, that I will be lonely, and that I can get through it. Maybe I didn’t have someone comforting me in the flesh in precisely my moments of doubt, but a few Team Leaders reached out shortly thereafter, and I am eternally grateful. So yeah, the first weekend was hard, but I have my Team Green support no matter where I am and no matter where they go. It was so refreshing to confirm that already, first weekend out.

The first weekend of loneliness taught me two very important things: 1) I’m not invincible and 2) I need to come up with productive, consuming, alone-time activities. The day after I learned these lessons my team and I attended the last day of an awesome book sale. I bought eight books for only $4.50! So not only did I get to splurge on books (my favorite)…but I have plenty of hours of reading materials now (alone time activity!!).

So now we’re nearing the end of our second weekend in Urbandale and let me tell you, I haven’t had even a second for loneliness in this past week. Between the 8-hour work days, post-work one-on-ones, grocery shopping trips, campus check-ins, daily chit-chats with mom, physical training, team meetings, volunteering at local events, and reading my new psychology book (totally nerdy, I know)…I hardly have time to sleep let alone think about how I’m the only Team Leader in Iowa.

So after one week here, I can say this: I think I am going to really like it here. I am consumed nearly all the time, my rare alone time is precious and used wisely, Urbandale/Des Moines has a heck-of-a-lot more to offer than I would have ever expected, my team agreed that morale this week is “good” and I get my own room for five more days. I’m happy, the team is happy; all is well here in Urbandale.

Until next time…

The Exciting News of October 10th!

To those of you who frequent this blog often, I have exciting news for you! Everything in my last post about going to Virginia and Washington D.C. is temporarily void. I have a new assignment!!

Iowa

is my new assignment location! I will be working at the Joint Field Office in Urbandale, IA (just outside the state capital, Des Moines) until this whole government shut down thing gets itself worked out. A few months ago a series of severe storms, flooding, and tornadoes struck throughout the State of Iowa…so my team and I will be assisting the public in matters that have not yet been taken care of. It’s vague—yes, but to be totally honest…I’m not sure what all I’m allowed to say on the World Wide Web…so I say the more vague umbrella terms the better!! I’m just grateful that we are able to finally deploy and start doing the work we’ve been trained to do J

Here’s how I feel about the change in plans: “lsdkjflsknllskjflsdjf!!!! :D J :]”. In English, that roughly translates to: “I am excited beyond words and thriving in this adrenaline fueled adventure!!! :D :) :]” I never thought when I accepted this position six months ago that I would be handing all this dramatic change in such a positive way. I absolutely love it. It’s terrifying and full of unknowns…but shockingly, those are my favorite things about it. I have a feeling I’m going to be quite an adrenaline junkie once I’m completed with my term serving in AmeriCorps NCCC FEMA Corps (that name really never quickly flows off the tongue…).

We depart tomorrow morning at “9 am” after a series of room and kitchen inspections, room key turn ins, and last minute packing of the van. Now can you understand why I put it in quotes? We will be arriving in Urbandale, Iowa Saturday afternoon…with no set place to live yet. It is likely that we will not know our living situation until we’re there…but that’s the beauty of this job!

So here is to an endless amount of unknowns and unbelievable amounts of excitement! Iowa, here I come!! J

The Last Day of CTI

Yesterday wrapped up the final day of Corps Training Institute (CTI) and FEMA Specific Training. And today marks 10 and ½ weeks of being here. Without a doubt, these past two and a half months have been the most challenging, tiresome, and gratifying weeks of my twenty-two-and-a-half years.  

Now I’ll share the information I know I have been dying to know since the moment I got here. Where is Bayou 6 going on their first assignment??

WINCHESTER, VIRGINIA

and

FEMA Headquarters in WASHINGTON, D.C.

The details are still a little bit sparse…but that’s the nature of the business—FEMA Flexible. We head North on the morning of Tuesday, October 8^th. I cannot begin to put my excitement into words…so I’ll save that for another post.

Here’s the real inspiration of this post: Last Night. On the night of October 4, 2013, after 4 weeks of getting to know all the good and bad parts of the TLs during Team Leader Training and 6 weeks of hearing each and every one of them complain, cry, and praise themselves and their Corps Members…we still loved each other enough to throw a kick-butt surprise birthday party and Team Green celebration. After a week of sneaky email threads, getting dressed up, and kidnapping the birthday boy the celebration was a complete success. We transformed the cafeteria into the scene of what looked like a small-scale high school prom, took hundreds of pictures, danced like complete fools, and spoke kind words about everyone in the room. It was the perfect end to the best ten and a half weeks of my life.

A few of the young recently graduated TL staff attended our rendezvous last night and kept saying “this is so funny” about our party. Of course, I was confused and quite curious so I asked them to indulge me in their reasoning. As a quick background, these three young staff have been TLs and/or working for AmeriCorps NCCC at the many campuses for the past four years. That means they have witnessed the dynamics of at least eight classes of Team Leaders. When they explained why they thought it was “funny” it was explained to me that they have never in all their years seen a group of 30 individuals as close as we are…even after all the trials and tribulations we’ve had over the past many weeks. Over the past 6 weeks of CTI, every staff member has shared how impressed they are by this class of Team Leaders…but it wasn’t until last night after hearing it from someone that had once been in my shoes…did it truly sink in. I don’t think the past few months and meetings of accolades have been boosts to our egos or false senses of hope…FEMA Corps Class 20 Team Leaders truly are some of the best leaders the Vicksburg campus has seen walk through their doors. I, nor any of the Team Leaders here, take this compliment or this responsibility lightly. We do and will put all our effort and our best feet forward now until the end of our term in June. I cannot wait to see and hear about my fellow Team Leaders and my Corps Members growth in the coming months.