Dear Maggie —
I am on approximately 34 text chains with other parents – one for each kid’s grade level, one for each sports team, one for summer camp planning, 16 for moral support and the most recent text thread I’ve been included on is all volunteer requests. (Don’t even get me started on WhatsApp!?!) I try my best to keep up with all of it, but TBH, my best isn’t always good enough. I am no doubt dropping the ball somewhere for something! On a not so unrelated note, why are the date boxes so tiny on calendars?! Don’t those calendar designers know I need an enormous box to fit all of my commitments!? Well now that I’ve made a short story long; I might as well ask my question: Can you please help me sort out my life? I know you can’t manage the summer camp shuffle (wait…can you do that?!), but maybe you can help me figure out if I’m supposed to be somewhere helping out sometime in the near future. Please and thank you!
— Disorganized Deirdra
Dear Disorganized —
I feel your pain! I have been inundated with guest appearance requests lately! “Maggie, can you come to Open House?” “Maggie, can you be the emcee at Trivia Night?” “Maggie, can you come to the 3rd grade basketball game?” Maggie! Maggie! Maggie! Everyone wants a piece of me. But that’s the price you pay for fame I guess! Luckily for you, I have one of those Big A$$ Calendars (I was influenced!), and I know exactly where and when you might need to be in the coming weeks. How about this – I’ll prioritize which events are happening first and then tell you what types of help they need? Ok? Great! I knew you’d agree! 😜
First up, Open House – this is the kick-off of Catholic Schools Week (CSW) – also known as Cheap School Workforce 😬. Open House is this Sunday from 11am-2pm in the gym. Come on over after 10 AM Mass (make sure you go visit my pal Jesus beforehand!). They are in need of tour guides to help walk potential new families around the buildings. Don’t be afraid! Listen. To. Me. DON’T BE AFRAID! You will be given a very detailed list of talking points and a Student Ambassador will join you and they usually do all the talking. I have found that parents like to hear from the students about the school and want to hear about the parent experience from the parent tour guides. You’re a parent and have had AN experience at SMOS, so ta-da you’re automatically qualified to give the tour! This is an all-hands-on-deck event so please sign up here. Plus once your shift is up, you’ll get to enjoy walking tacos that will go with our “Dragons Love Tacos” theme for Open House. I know, it’s cheesy but you love it! #SeeWhatIDidThere??
Next is Trivia Night – I talked about this last week and I know you know that because you most definitely read my column every single week, right?!?! They have volunteer opportunities coming out of the wazoo! Much like Open House, the shifts are about an hour long each and require no real skill, just a pulse and the willingness to help! If you want to help set up/decorate for Trivia, they’ve got that! If you want to play trivia with your table, but can come help a little bit early, they’ve got that too! If you want to play trivia, but will also need a break from that one know-it-all at your table in between rounds, they’ve got something for you too! Finally, if you are NOT Smarter than a 5th Grader, and don’t want to play trivia but still want to help, they’ve got a plethora of jobs for you my friend! Click this handy dandy link to see where you can fill in the gaps!
Lastly, I don’t know if you’ve seen all the Tartan Plaid splattered all over the weekly newsletter but it’s an Auction year! Which means this May, we will all get together for the 125th Anniversary celebration culminating in the resurrection of the Highlander! (It was a thing – and will be a thing again!) The ways to help for this event are slightly different than the ones I mentioned above (for now at least). Right now, the committee is starting to put together the auction baskets; each grade creates a basket that then is put up for auction at the event. The reason this is a little different is that you aren’t signing up for a time slot to complete a specific task. You’ll be working with other parents (mostly through email) to come up with a theme, collecting money/items (still mostly through email), and then shopping and collecting the items for the basket. I don’t have a link for you on this one but keep your eyes out for an email from your child’s Room Parent. If they haven’t already, they’ll be reaching out soon to ask for help on this one. I wouldn’t sleep on this one; this is the plates-and-napkins option for the party planning committee! IYKYK
Alright, well now I need a nap just thinking about all the chatting and smiling I’ll be doing at all of these events! Try not to be overwhelmed by it all – remember these are all fun events and meant to bring our SMOS community together. Plus, I think even a monkey could give a tour at Open House – no offense to our Middle Schoolers. There might have even been one there last year; or was that someone dressed in a blow-up Dragon suit?? I don’t know, but I do know I won’t be missing any of the fun, and I hope to see you all there too!
— Maggie