Bumble Bees Make Me Smile
One of the occasions that I celebrated this year was twenty years of employment plus one year of volunteer service with my current employer. I still have a coffee mug that I bought for myself during my first year there. Who would have thought that I'd still be working in the same place for so long, let alone have a mug that hung in there with me.
I work in the nonprofit sector. Specifically, I work at an organization whose efforts revolve around helping mostly adults improve their literacy skills and their lives. Though much of what I do is focused on helping people read, write and do math better, we do a variety of community outreach and enrichment programs.
Our secondary goal is to promote the importance of literacy. When I initially began working, our agency's big community project was a Spelling Bee. Our little agency of three plus me and a ton of volunteers from around the community got together to put on the event. Though I have no clue how many children participated, I do know that students from every parish (county) of our region attended.
My job was pretty simple in reference to the Bee. I just made a brochure that was part logistics and part recognition. I didn't even design it, I just filled it content. The information that I put in the brochure was also released to the press and used to order t-shirts for the student participants.
After nearly a week of going through papers, triple checking the spelling of hundreds of names, and doing whatever my boss told me, I started to see bees everywhere. I was not overwhelmed by the Spelling Bee. Instead, I was excited about having such a great event for local students.
During the last few days of planning for the event, I went into a dollar store and saw a shelf full of coffee mugs. One of the shelves held a few mugs with bumble bees all over them. I decided that I needed one of these mugs. So I purchased it and brought it to work to show everyone. The mug was cute, however, it didn't quite match our "bee" which was basically clip art. I didn't care though... it was close enough.
To this day, I love that mug. It serves as a reminder for why I have continued to love my job all of these years later. That mug has made it through a lot. It has been dropped, left to hold spoiled coffee, banished to the back of the cabinet, bleached, microwaved... you name it, this mug has seen it. In short, this mug reminds of our program participants. They are strong and determined to make it to another day.
As I reflect on the past twenty plus years of my work life, this mug is just as much a part of my story as anything else. It has been with me through three babies, internal job changes, and countless mugs filled with strong ass morning, afternoon and sometimes evening coffee.
My work family and home family have matured, grown, and transitioned over the years. Even though we work towards the same goal, the way that we do our work has changed (thank you broadband internet and social media). It is nice to have a constant along for the ride. To this day, every time that I see the bumble bee mug, I give up a little personal smile.