So I am having a do nothing day today.  Lounging with the dog, watching football, waiting for The Cocktail Party to start and reading blogs.  But I almost forgot to tell you about my Friday evening.  I volunteered at an inner city library to help out with their kid-friendly Halloween event with the Junior League. 





The asked that we get there two hours before it started to help set up.  So my cousin-ish and I got there at 4PM.  Set up took less than five minutes.  So we just sat there.  But we never realized that the library is this safe haven for kids.  That's what they do after school every single day.  And we were new faces.  Who clearly had nothing to do.  So they were flocking to us.  Just wanting someone to talk to them and acknowledge them and even more important, listen to them.  We learned all about the books they like and how they are only allowed 30 minutes of computer time each day.  We heard then talk about not having a costume because they couldn't afford one (I nearly started crying.  I'm embarrassed to say that thought never crossed my mind before.), not going trick-or-treating because their parents were going out to parties, and how they walk all over this rough section of city by themselves.  Cousin-ish and I really didn't ask many questions.  They just came and started talking and because we were nice, they kept talking.  I mean, we were there with nothing to do for two hours.  I think we agreed that our best moment was when a little girl asked to read a book with us.  We got to help her sound out words and watch the best smile come across her six year old face. 

The event started at six and included a DJ, costume contest, lots of food, games, contests and crafts.  We were at the table that let kids make trick-or-treat bags.  It was sooo crazy.  All of a sudden the three of us from the JL were sitting there surrounded by hundreds of people.  It was fun.  But completely and utterly overwhelming.  There were so many people in there that I couldn't hear anything anyone was saying.  It was just pure chaos.  By the end, we were down to only a tiny amount of glue left in one glue stick and I turned into the glue stick diva who refused to give it to anyone as they were disappearing.  Then the little little kids didn't have any.  So I kept one for them to use and let the big kids fend for themselves.  They all seemed to have a great time though.  I'm just not sure they quite expected such a huge turnout to a small two hour library event.  I sure as heck didn't.  When it was over, we folded everything into the plastic tablecloth, put it in a trash bag, and practically ran out of there.  Bravo to the library for putting so much effort into the safe night in party for the kids.  But I need at least another year to recover from that chaos. 

Images on this post were randomly found online and I do not know who created them.