“Give Me One Good Reason”
I have to start with a confession. I’m sad to say that over the years I have done my share of working while on vacation. I sacrificed far too much of my time and my families time for the sake of chasing a corporate career.
Yet here I was doing it again.
Getting out of bed and heading out the door before anyone else was even awake. Okay, not 100% factual, one other person was awake. My younger brother Craig. I had voluntold him he was joining me on this one.
As brothers go we have a lot in common. We both have 3 kids, 2 girls and one boy each. We are both ex military. According to Craig though, only one of us actually was. And it was him since he was the one in the Army and I was just in the RAF.
And we both have a drive to be part of something bigger than ourselves.
My old friend the Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher summed it up brilliantly.
“What is success? I think it is a mixture of having a flair for the thing that you are doing; knowing that it is not enough, that you have got to have hard work and a certain sense of purpose.”
It wasn’t quite 7 am and it was almost 30c. Now I know 7am isn’t necessarily early for a lot of you. But we are on family vacation together and 30c for a couple of boys from Scotland is positively roasting.
Where we had to be was an hour’s drive away. Normally I’d open all the windows to save on the gas. But today since Craig was with me I decided not to cheap out and cranked up the AC. We might as well kick off the day in relative comfort and frankly I didn’t want him all irritated before we even arrived.
Believe me his kids call him “Squidward” for a reason.
A little before 8.30 am we turn into the street where we will be working. We know we are in the right place as we see “The Mission Continues” banner and flag posted on a drive way just up ahead. The large dumpster pulling away is also a bit of a give away
You see we have both volunteered on a “Habitat for Humanity” project on behalf of the 2nd Orlando Platoon of “ The Mission Continues” the organization founded by Eric Greitens in 2007
It kicks off with a safety brief from “Ty” the Habitat For Humanity site supervisor and a quick round robin of who we all are.
There are 5 volunteers from the Mission Continues,
Dan Kalagian US Army veteran now super volunteer, Peter Cartwright USMC veteran doing MSc in Sociology, Me RAF Veteran Founder of Able Baker Charlie, Craig Donnelly (brother) REME veteran, AH 64 Support rep Morson Tech Services, Eric Weiss US Army veteran, Programmer with NASA and 2nd platoon commander with Mission Continues,
Not a bad turn out for a mid week gig. And most importantly Tomecka Thomas a habitat for humanity client who is just starting on her “sweat equity”. After a full safety brief, Ty offer a quick prayer and a reemphasis on the importance of hydration. Then it’s off to work. But not before Craig reminds me…
“Remember Hydrate or Die Brother”
Craig and I are teamed up with “Pete” who has just finished his undergrad in sociology and next semester moving on to do his Masters. His goal is to secure a new career in social work and counselling working ultimately with Veterans.
Our task for the morning is to rip off some old siding along the roofline and sheet it ready for the new siding. I’m not really sure what Ty was expecting but we knocked that task off by 10 am and moved onto the front of the house that was done before the pizza arrived.
Lunch over we move now to the inside of the house and start on reframing the doors. Most of which we get done before it becomes time to wrap up.
All too soon the day is over. But it feels good, dirty and sweaty, Craig and I hang around a little while longer and chat to the 2nd Platoon guys.
I wanted to understand Why they volunteer and what they get out of it.
I can’t speak for Squidward but for me this was the most satisfying and fulfilling workday on vacation ever. And I would do it again in heartbeat. No questions.
Stephen Covey said,
Y ou can retire from a job, but don’t ever retire from making extremely meaningful contributions in life.
There was just something about working with fellow veterans on a project to help someone else that had me smiling inside and out.
My challenge to you is,
1.Go out and find your tribe
2. Become part of something bigger than yourself
3. Get in synch with people just like you
4. Sweat
The outcome might surprise you as much as it did me.
