This morning while driving to work I kept trying to remember what it felt like twelve years ago to drive across Lawrence to my first day on the job as the new director of Elizabeth B. Ballard Community Center, Inc. It was not hard to remember as it just feels like yesterday. As I entered today, I thought about how different it is to be here now rather than back then. I remember how nervous I was in 1999 - I had worked the weekend prior with my board members to "clean" up the facility and put in shelving in the food pantry. I remembered how I stayed up all night the night before to make chocolate chip cookies for all of the staff and how I was hit the very first day with the reality of what I had chosen to do. It was so difficult back then and yet, in some ways, so much easier.
There are some days that I miss the simplicity of "getting" to drive a truck from Topeka to Lawrence and deliver food; spend the early morning hours in a classroom with four year olds and stock the food pantry with donated food. My friend Hank Booth likes to tell the story about arriving at Ballard to speak with me about early childhood education services and finding me cooking in the kitchen....all I've got to say about that is those poor, poor children....uuugh my cooking leaves a lot to be desired. I wonder where I would have been back then had I not had my mom to help me develop menu's and figure out how to record the nutrition in each meal...bless you mom, that was WAY over my head! I remember mom laughing at me as I tried to fix banana bread for 58 kids and was missing an ingredient...have you EVER been able to bounce YOUR banana bread off of a counter...well, mine did, just like one of those old fashioned "super" balls. Goodness that was funny and no, I did not feed that to the children!
Times they sure have changed and we have changed, a lot. I have been so very blessed to work with many board members who have come to be good friends and staff who I miss very much. During last month's St. Patrick's Day parade, I realized just how long I've been here when as we worked the crowd handing out Save the Date Cards for our Ballard B3, I had parents and children who used to go to Ballard give me hugs and call out my name. To see the children that used to give me sticky kisses and call me Nan standing tall as teenagers just blew me away. I feel so very lucky to have been a part of their lives. I do not believe that the myriad of Senior Citizens, families, clients and children know how much they have touched me and how special that they have been in my life. I had no idea twelve years ago that I would fall in love with a place and with the people and be allowed to live out a vision for an organization that captured my heart. It sounds so simplistic to say that I have been blessed....but I have been more than I can describe most times.....I will always be thankful for this opportunity.
Many things have changed in my life over the past twelve years, some good and some not so good but in retrospect, coming to Lawrence has been the best thing that ever happened to me. There are some people who have known me the entire time that I have been here who would laugh at that statement - the ultimate Missouri farm girl loving living in Lawrence...it is very true my friend...I'm converted. :)
It strikes me as interesting in the scheme of life that after twelve years, I still have a clear vision for Ballard, now called Ballard Community Services. I thought long ago that I would do what I have always done, come into the organization, put together the vision of the Board and change the organization (hopefully for the better) and leave within seven years. Hmmmm, well now, seems like that idea went out the window a while ago. I have thought about that plan a lot over the past few years and what I came to realize is that our vision is not finished yet and that makes it hard to walk away from something you want to see succeed. My wish is that within the next year our biggest, most exciting vision for Ballard will come true - the Petey Cerf Early Education Center for Children & Families. Goodness knows we have all been working on it long enough! :)
So, as I prepare for my 144th Board of Directors meeting for Ballard Community Services being held this afternoon, I will just say this, Lawrence is very, very lucky to have an organization like Ballard and Ballard is lucky to have the amazing staff and the leadership of a Board who is above and beyond the best that there is. I am lucky to have Ballard in my life, the donors, the Board members, the children, our staff and to live in the city of Lawrence, Kansas. To all of my friends who are truly my family, thank you for welcoming me, to my Board of Directors - it is an honor to serve you as the director of BCS and to my staff - it is a privilege to walk through the doors of Ballard every day and see you working hard on behalf of our children and families. Thank you from the bottom of my heart......love you Ballard....
A glimpse of the past:
Ian - "I love you to the moon and back - top and bottom."
I miss you little man.....
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