Ben and I volunteered this past weekend at the Special Olympics Central Texas Area Spring Games.
On Friday, we got up early and headed up to Pflugerville to help set up for soccer. When we left the house, it was raining, but by the time we got there, it had cleared up. Unfortunately, it was super muggy, but the athletes didn't care. They were just glad that it was no longer raining and that they could play soccer! After getting everything set up at the soccer fields, Ben and I then headed over to Connally High School to get everything set up for track & field. That afternoon, I worked the volunteer table while Ben continued to help coordinate the event. The track & field events that took place on Friday were for the "physically fragile" athletes, and it was absolutely awesome! There were wheel chair races and assisted walking races, and it really was as amazing as it sounds. Seeing those athletes work as hard as they could to either wheel themselves or walk across the finish line while all of their families, friends, coaches, and teammates stood around the track cheering them on is one of the most amazing things that I've ever seen. Needless to say, I shed a few tears. That evening, after the event was over, I took a couple of pictures of how beautiful the sky looked just before the storm blew in. I had a conversation the other day with my mom and G about when we think the sky is the most beautiful, and these pictures really capture what I love the most.
I also had Ben take a picture of us, but it's not the most beautiful thing in the world. I guess that's what we look like after a whole lot of muggy weather, sweat, and sunscreen.
That night, Ben and I headed to Milano Cafe before going home to crash. Milano Cafe was amazing as always, and to be honest, I'm not sure if either one of us said a word between our bites of lasagna.
On Saturday, we got up early again and headed back to Connally High School. When we pulled up to the school, we had about 50 volunteers standing in line waiting to sign in. Unfortunately, I had been told to get there at 7:00 am to sign everybody in, but the volunteers had been told to get there 30 minutes before their shift, which started at 7:00. Oops. All in all though, the day went really well. Track & field is by far the busiest event of the year, so I was pretty busy all day getting all of the volunteers and coaches signed in and answering all sorts of random questions from the parents, volunteers, coaches, etc. I was the only one that was to be at the volunteer table all day, but fortunately, the event coordinator asked Adrianne, a girl who had signed up to volunteer and who was there at 7:00, to help me out during her shift. At one point, I asked her what time her shift ended, and she replied "11:00, but if you'd like me to, I can stay all day". I'm not sure if was the look of panic in my eyes or the fact that she was having so much fun, but either way, I am so glad that she decided to stay! We had a great time interacting with all the volunteers, athletes, coaches, and families, and before we knew it, the day was almost over. My favorite part of the day was towards the end when we got to congratulate all of the athletes on their medals as they were leaving. One of the athletes that we got to congratulate was Andre, an athlete that we had a chance to talk to for a little bit earlier that day. Before Andre left, he came over to our table and set down his drink so that he could give us both a hug. He asked if we had a camera so that we could take a picture of him. I told him that I did and took a picture of him and Adrianne together. After I took the picture, he pointed at me and told Adrianne, "I bet that she's jealous now." I love it. :)
Unfortunately, I had to take the picture on my phone, so the quality is not the greatest, but it's still pretty cute.
That night, after the event was over, and after we had loaded and unloaded the huge truck, we headed over to Serrano's for some nachos and then to Amy's for some ice cream. After such a long day in the hot sun, it really hit the spot. While eating our ice cream, we walked out on the back porch to listen to a little bit of "Southpark After Dark" and then went home so that we could get to bed early. I'm pretty sure that we were both asleep as soon as our heads hit our pillows. The past two days were wonderful....and extremely exhausting.
For those of you who are as confused as I was when I saw the t-shirt, NO8DO is the official motto of Sevilla (the city where Josh is studying abroad). The motto combines the Spanish symbols ("No" and "Do"), and the figure between them is a piece of yarn, or in Spanish, "madeja". When read aloud, “No madeja do” sounds like “No me ha dejado,” which means “It [Sevilla] has not abandoned me.”
Instead, we decided to take pictures of each other in front of what we worked the hardest on. Needless to say, one of us was not quite as eager to have their picture taken as the other one was, but I'll leave it up to you to determine who was who. :)
