Seven years ago I was preparing to host an open house to celebrate Kyle and Michelle's wedding with all our Florida friends. Kyle had been serving with Word Made Flesh in Kolkata for a couple years, and had met and fallen in love with Michelle when she had volunteered there the previous summer. They'd been courting long distance most of the year and had gotten married in Wisconsin in July. We wanted to host an open house for our many friends in Florida to meet Michelle and visit with Kyle who had been away - at school and then India - for so long. Our house is plenty large enough for David and myself, but rather compact when considering having 100-150 people over.
My friends helped me plan the menu and spent hours helping me prepare a number of the dishes. One made several desserts and spent the hours during the open house plating hors d'oeuvres and cleaning up. One friend ran a food pick-up for me, and one friend with mad scrapbooking skills took an hour or two to lead me through making wedding photo posters - a process that would have taken me days by myself.
One friend even helped me clean out and organize my garage a couple weeks prior to the event (a mountainous task that had been overwhelming to me) to gain much needed storage and prep space for the party supplies and food. On the two nights of the open house, because my friends had been so good to me, sharing their time and expertise, I was able to fully relax and enjoy all our friends and Kyle and Michelle.
I experienced the same kind of goodness in getting set up for Sam and Amber's wedding rehearsal dinner. Family and friends helped us prepare food, set up tables, displays and games and made short work of the clean-up at the end of the evening.
Over the years I've learned to know myself, in part, by noticing how I differ from others...in the motivations that drive us, the ways we work and communicate, our skill sets and preferences for doing things together or by ourselves, etc. Though I've spent waaay too much time moaning about my dismal rate of productivity over the years, I've worked to exchange moaning about my weaknesses for a willingness to ask for help and gratitude for the people in my life with the skills, gifts and willingness to help me bring about the plan I've envisioned.
I like this. I have my own dismal rate of productivity that I struggle with. :) HA! I'm pretty sure I missed out on some important "get-it-all-done" gene. Anywho. I like how you appreciate the differing talents of those around you without those talents making you feel lacking. Maybe I'll get there one day, too.
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