Anecdotes 1, 2, and 3

Not too long ago, my mom's good friend has a retirement party where she set up and catered the whole party; she bought and cooked the food, set up all decorations and food tables, and after the party, she did all the dishes! It made her friends party the bet he ever had and, being the kind of person my mom is, that made her so happy. She even ate last, making sure that every other person in the party had been served first. My mom was offered money for all of her services but, because they're her friends, she refused. Not only had she put the time in effort into planning the event, she did it out of pure love for her friends.

A few years abo, my mom worked at Allen at Steinbeck as a volunteer in Art Vista. She was a docent to about 150 kids that year. The summer before school starting, my mom would spends hours everyday putting together art binders containing drawing techniques, projects, information about basic principles of art, famous artist biographies, and everything else you would want a kid to know in an art class. She made one for each student and even customized them by putting their names on the spine so they would easily tell who's whose. My mom spent more time putting the binders together than the students spent using them during the school year, considering they only had art twice a month. "They'll use their binders in the future if they continue art," is what she replied when I asked her why she does it. She loved when the kids got interested and involved in art projects. She would spend hours after school going over their painting, matting them, and putting them on the walls one by one. There were days when she spent over 12 hours at school, grading projects or even helping other teachers get some work done too. My mom always did so much for her students and co-workers which is why, that year, she received the Jefferson Award. Staff from the school and the district nominated her because everything she did was volunteer work and it always was beneficial to everyone. She definitely deserved that honor.

The other weekend, my friends an I went to a show in Walnut Creek, town thats about a 45 minute drive, at 8 at night which ended at 10. "Who's taking us to the show?" was the first thought my girls and I had. Usually, we depended on our friends for rides, however, none could take us that night. So, I called my mom and asked her if she would take us and pick us up. Although she wasn't completely thrilled about it, she agreed only because she wanted my friends and me to have a good night. None of their parents wanted to take us. It really shows how wonderful my mother is.