Happy Exhaustion

The week before the Safety Expo is always stressful for me as the event coordinator and this week has been no exception. BUT this year instead of having a few key helpers and feeling overwhelmed with all that has to be done I've had more help than I know what to do with.

The last two days I just wanted to hide. Every time I walked in the building several people all needed just a moment of my time - to make suggestions, to ask how they could help, or to worry over details I hadn't quite worked out. A totally different type of overwhelming than I'm used to! (And being sick all week didn't help.)

Knowing that Mom had physical therapy today and that I'd be unable to stay on my mid-day break I spent some time yesterday making diagrams of what had to go where and then I created a long list of jobs that needed to be done. A few of us planned to set up as much as we could today after work. The head driver made a pot of clam chowder and I put the diagrams and to-do list on the bulletin board in case anyone finished earlier than I and wanted to get started.

I left Mom's a few minutes early so I'd have a few minutes to get something done before my afternoon shift. I walked into the break-room and there were people spread out already working on a couple of the jobs on the list. I had been worried that we wouldn't have enough candy and was told right away that the donations had been counted and we have considerably more than the number I was figuring on. I answered a couple of quick questions and had time to sit and relax!

I went out on my route, the kids were great and I finished a bit early and headed back in to work on finishing up the rest of my long list. Just as I expected several people started talking to me at once but it soon became clear that they were DONE WITH THE LIST and what else needed to be done? And come look at what we did with this. And does this look ok or should we put it over there? On a Friday afternoon more than a dozen people stayed to help and by the time I got in there was very little left to do. We moved things around and got some things done I just didn't think we'd have time for. People trickled out and the few of us that were left sat down and chatted over dinner.

We got so much done that I told everyone to sleep in and show up a half hour before the event. More than half of them plan to be there early, just in case they're needed.

Yes, I am certainly overwhelmed! And excited about tomorrow. They say three times is the charm and our event tomorrow is going to be great. All we still need is for lots and lots of kids to show up. (Oh, and please no rain or snow!)