Not Exactly The Feel Good Experience I Was Expecting

Blurry shot of one of the Habitat condo buildings, and my fingers after a half day of work.

I've been trying to volunteer again for Habitat for Humanity since I helped out one day in August. While I did not have the funnest or cleanest task on that day, seven hours of caulking, I did enjoy the experience. Why did it take so long for a slot to open up? Well, I learned that it's much easier to schedule a group of people to volunteer--a corporation, a church, a community organization--than it is to fill a day with one volunteer here and one volunteer there. Finally, I was able to get a slot right before Thanksgiving, and I set my sights on getting power tool duty.

I drove the 30 miles to the beach community of Carlsbad to work on a two building, 11 condominium development, only to find out that the group that I was to be joining had canceled. The site manager had decided to only have construction run for a half-day as he thought no volunteers were showing up (the more experienced paid workers or permanent volunteers with construction experience were still there). I was assigned to help a fellow put part of the roof in place, but I must say it was precarious standing on the ladder. I would have either given up or hurt something if I hadn't been working out my arms over the last few months. I was definitely a bit uneasy.

I then got transitioned to help nail in some small pieces of wood with vent screens onto the roof. I was happy to be helping a retired Navy officer who was very encouraging to my newbie hammering efforts. I must say, my hammering was atrocious. My partner said that it was difficult to successfully hammer the large, heavy duty nails with the cheap hammers we were given--that's why he brought his own. Poor fellow had to do twice the work as more than half of my nails had to be pulled out due to bending--he was the one pulling them out!

I was actually glad that it was only a half-day, as my fingers and ego had suffered enough. I was strongly encouraged to return--and practice my hammering in the meantime.