Guest Post: My Cajun Life

First, I want to thank Overthinking Mama for the opportunity to write a guest post. Her blog is one of the first blogs I visited when I came to blogger. Her creativity caught my eye. She is a sweet genuine person. I wish we would live closer so I could really get to know her and her kids.

When I read her post requesting guest posts I thought, what could I write on her blog? I don't consider myself as talented as she is. It is hard forming ideas for my own blog. She told me it could be about anything. So I thought about it. Like magic, I received a sign.

Saturday I received a letter from Big Brothers Big Sisters stating that I have been qualified and they are looking for a LITTLE especially for me!

I had applied to be a BIG a couple of months back. Why?  I love helping people.I want to make a difference in someone's life. 

While my MyLove works outside the home  I am home being the dutiful house partner. It is rewarding but it gets stagnant. I get bored and the walls start to close in on me. One day it was getting bad and I told MyLove  I needed to do something with myself. I didn't want to commit myself to much volunteer because I did that with the church years ago and all of a sudden I was overwhelmed with numerous phone calls for everything else. 

I toyed with the Big Brother/Big Sister idea for quite a while. However, I was afraid they would not accept me as I do have an obvious physical limitation.  I think it was the fear of rejection. 

I thought I am a mother who conceived and raised an independent well adjusted child.  I've overcome obstacles throughout my life when "experts" would say I would fail. I have faced challenges and pushed through them. Why would this be any different? That nagging feeling of being rejected ate at me though.

I pondered and researched Big Brothers/Big Sisters. On a "I can do anything day"  I made a simple inquiry by email. They responded telling me they accept many people as BIG and LITTLE. I went fill out the application and had an interview shortly thereafter.

I was able to talk frankly with the Administrator about my concerns. She, along with her staff reassured me that I could qualify regardless of physical limitation. They do all they can to make a match between the Little and Big interests.

It was a long process but I understood. Most of the kids come from broken or troubled homes so they have to be careful and do a full background check. I had to give three references and I know they checked them because my sister, friend and MyLove told me. HA!

There are two kinds of volunteers.  The school based where the BIG joins the Little at a specified time at school and help the child with school work, play games etc. The community based is where the BIG makes plans for the LITTLE to go elsewhere outside of school like the park or wherever their interest leads them.

Both require as little as an hour a week with your LITTLE.

I decided on the school based because I want to get my feet wet first. My visits will be strictly during the school hours. If my LITTLE  and I agrees later on, we  can move to community based.

I am sure I will be writing about my BIG experience on my blog when I get matched. If you want to read my experience with being a BIG as well as my crazy Cajun life as a disabled person, stop by my blog:My Cajun Life, after you read Overthinking Mama of course.