Day 19

I wokeup this morning on the better side of the bed. Last night I wasn't doing so well due to an overload of emotions towards many different things, luckily my good friend talked me through it and cheered me up. I am very grateful to have someone like him in my life that knows how to keep me focused on my dreams.
Well this morning I was booked to volunteer at The Ronald McDonald House (FINALLY) from 9am-12pm, BUT I never heard the alarm go off and wokeup at 9:16am and was wondering if it was too late to go. I called the house but no one was answering so I asked my friend what I should do and he said that if I made the commitment then people are depending on me and I need to go, he had a point.
As I was getting ready, I then checked my facebook messages and got a heart warming message from my little 14year old sister. She just moved to Israel and was having a hard time fitting in at the school, so all of last week we spoke for hours and I gave her motivational words. Today she wrote me this:
Hey bon bon shell. school was actually pretty good :) i liked it and i kept the most open mind i posibly could just as you told me, and invisiond myself making alot of friends, and crazy enough, the friends in my vision actually looked like the friends i made today :D haha law of attraction shit is sooo cool. and btw, i just wanted to say thanx alot for helping. i love u ♥

AWWWWWWWW I LOVE HER! She made my morning!! So I decided to go, after getting ready, driving through traffic in the rain, I had gotten to TRMH at around 10:15am, to the main building, there are two buildings. It was my first day so I wasn't sure as to what I was suppose to be doing. The other volunteer in the front desk taught me the basic as far as what we do in the main front desk. Simple things such as answering phone calls, checking in new families, setting up paperwork for the next day's check-ins, making room keys, and helping answer questions.
When I first got there, we were helping assistant a family with transportation to the hospital who couldn't speak English. Moments later I saw their daughter who was going to surgery and I got so sad, it was hard to smile at this poor girl with a genuine happy smile when all you want to do is cry and hug her. I then was setting up the paperwork for the new patients and their families for tomorrow's check-in. Once again, noticing the children's age and their diagnose, seeing cancer checked in the box was extremely hard. I guess these are all things to get framiliar with but not necessarily used to.
I got a tour of the main house by the same volunteer who had been there a while. She showed me a tall white square empty table, it was about 5 feet high, never the entrance door. She told that anytime we lose a child there will be a rose there with the child's name. wow! =( I think that was the #1 thing that touched me and hurt me the most.
The rooms are beautiful, everyone is brand new, great size room. There is a little cafe on each floor of the residence, with a laundry room. They have 2 beautiful salt water fish tanks in both of the buildings. The main building also has a computer room, play room, a parents room, a book area, and a huge kitchen. The other house is larger and has all the same things, except it has a video game room, a gym, a meeting room, theater room and a BBQ outside.
My time was technically up at 12pm but I decided that I wanted to stay longer, so they sent me to the other house which is 10feet away. I did the same basic stuff, saw more patients and families coming in and out. There was a volunteer organization there as well, they made lunch for the families it was really nice and simply, pasta, meat balls, some bread, and salad. I really realllly wanna grab some friends to do this too one day. I ended up staying till 2:30pm and then wondered why I didn't even stay longer lol.
I've always been a person who's all about the detail and noticed that although the facility is very large and nice, I feel like its very empty, I'm not really sure how to explain it, but I kinda think that there should be more playful colors, maybe balloons, or flowers, or little things that add so much! Even something as simple as maybe Valentine's Day decorations all around the house, I'm sure the families and kids would love that! I know on Christmas they had alot of decorations all over but now its all gone and it kinda looks too empty. I wanted to speak to Jennifer, who's in charge of volunteers, activities, and events. I know the next time I am schedule to volunteer is on Thursday but I REALLY actually want to go in tomorrow morning and really start making a difference! I'M FULL OF IDEAS!! After I post this, I will actually send Jen an email regarding tomorrow.
I'm really excited about helping at the Ronald McDonald House!
xoxo

"Concern should drive us into action, not depression"