A Friendly Face From Iowa

This week, our Maple Unit Leader Jimmy Kelly drove around the North Central region visiting the 6 teams in our unit to learn more about what we're doing on site and provide moral support and advice. This visit came none too soon. Though from my blog it may seem it's all fun and games out here in Ohio, this work is actually quite stressful. Long days of pulling honeysuckle in the cold with a team of individuals that have just met each other and have very different communication styles means there are often times when we're not all on the same page. We have different experience levels, abilities, and interest in the type of work we're doing. Often we get snippy with each other and tensions can be high. This is something we're addressing as a team, and to be honest Maple 4 is still a work in progress. When you're on a hill in tunnel vision mode just trying to crank out as much trail as possible, it's easy to get irritated with each other and lose sight of why we're out here to begin with. Though our NCCC mission is to "get things done for America," I think it's important for our team to keep reminding each other that we're also here to learn new skills, figure out how to respectfully work and live with people different from us, and most importantly have fun.

Seeing Jimmy was a great opportunity for me to get back on track. He arrived Sunday night while I was out grocery shopping, and as soon as I got back to the farmhouse he informed me that we were about to embark on an epic trek to Dairy Queen. Though it was only about 5 miles away, it somehow took us a hilarious 40 minutes to find it. When we got to DQ, Jimmy instructed the owner (a 70-year-old granny in a Sylvester the Cat sweatshirt) in the art of making his favorite custom Blizzard. She took extensive mental notes as he explained exactly how to mix this beverage so that it would taste like a Milk Dud. Granny griped that the young teenagers that work for her don't understand the true art of Blizzard-making like she and Jimmy do. I promptly double-fisted a strawberry milkshake and coke, then talked Jimmy's ear off for a completely unreasonable amount of time, after which point he imparted some words of wisdom. Back at the house, he refused our offers of a bed because he wanted to rough it... in our dining room... with a tent. This man's hilarity has no bounds. The fact that most of the team was asleep when he set up the tent, made this even more ridonk, as they found out at breakfast that we had a squatter.


Tuesday morning we gave him the grand tour. It was more rewarding than I had anticipated to show him the work we've been doing and to recognize just how much we've been able to accomplish in only 2 weeks. Seeing a friendly face from campus also reminded us all that we're part of something bigger. Thanks, Jimmy, for the delicious milkshake, and for making the trip out here to rev us up! You rule.