Volunteering

Hello, Today there had been no donations for me to date. Potatoes, onions, and carrots had already been bagged to put in the giveaway bags. I wandered around and could see nothing to do. Another woman had just finished the bagging. We were in an area that did not have other people close. She started telling me about her mood which she declared was quite grumpy. I told her, “I did not notice that. You seemed pleasant as always.” She then proceeded to tell me what was affecting her mood. This took quite some time as it involved several family members who had issues of one type or another. She was not able to help them change their life style. Instead, she said, “I have been enabling them to live the way they do I can’t do it anymore.” I just listened, tying to say just a few small things in the active listening mode. In the end, she thanked me for listening before we went off to tend to the things that had been procured from fast food establishments. Perhaps that listening was just a part of the volunteering job for the day. Paula