# 1: We Ask That You Be Patient

With several good experiences volunteering with Arlington County's Therapeutic Recreation Office as part of the Community Volunteer Network, I decided it was time to take it to the next level and start helping out on my own with their Family Fun Night program. This is a program for families of children and teens with autism and the activities are structured so that everyone can participate together. Much like working closely with the homeless through A-SPAN, I'm a little out of my comfort zone. 

At the orientation on the first night, each volunteer was asked to give a brief introduction and say what he or she hoped to get out of the experience. I love being involved in the community and volunteering makes me feel good, I said, but my selfish reason for volunteering is that I want to work on my patience. Until a few years ago, I had tons of patience. Now, if there are 3 people ahead of me in line, I get anxious and wonder why it's taking so long. By volunteering with this group, I hoped to regain perspective and patience.

As if on cue, the volunteer manager went through his expectations for volunteers, including "we ask that you demonstrate patience." That made me think, do I have enough patience to qualify? Should I go home right now?!

Thankfully, it has worked out well and I'm really enjoying the process. For the first session in October, I set up games and tried hard to strike a balance between interacting with the kids and giving them space to explore. I wasn't sure what to say or how to act, but I tried to stay close, engage kids when I could, and just take it all in.

In November, I decided I'd go all-in with the night's special activity, an interactive lesson with Jhoon Rhee Tae Kwon Doe. It was a lot of fun to be learning with the kids and watching their confidence grow in only a matter of minutes. 

The December session was a little bit slower because fewer kids were there, but I spent most of my time playing in the gym. There's this enormous inflatable ball that kids love! The picture on the website doesn't do it justice, but it's called the AirLite Cube and it's 4' x 4' x 4' and when you inflate it with air, you can throw it as high as the ceiling. There was one uncomfortable moment when a little boy didn't want to share the ball with someone else. He was not happy with me and started acting up. There's a lot going on so everyone moved on to something else quickly and we were back to normal.

In January, we had a few extra volunteers which let us spend more time with each kid and it's the first time I've gotten to know some parents. When the event first started, two boys ran into the gym with their mom right behind them. She introduced me to her sons and said she'd check them in and be right back. I told her that I remembered her younger son from December and she knew right away that I was the person who had played with the inflatable cube with him the month before. As it turns out, he had attended the event with his father in December and then spent days raving about how much fun he had playing with the cube. That night, there were no temper tantrums as we played with the cube and even tried some hoola hooping. Just like I want to be more comfortable around the kids, it's a really nice feeling when kids start to know and trust me. 

Family Fun Night will continue through the school year and I'm really glad to be part of this program. While my patience can still use some improvement, I'm more comfortable with myself and others, I'm more likely to move at a relaxed pace, and I've been stressing less about small stuff. Those are all steps in the right direction!