Until We Met

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Finally, the carnival event arrived. The event was orchestrated from 9 am until 11 at night. There were a lot of ups and downs, disagreements, success, and epic fails. At one point I'd emotionally checked out. It's one thing to plan an event with a group of people, it's another to actually put things into effect.

Regardless of your leadership roles, someone is always opinionated and things get frisky. But we pulled through. Here I stood in front of the balloon twister making sure he was stocked with enough balloons. We had a bounce house, face painting, balloon twister, several games, merry go round and other small rides. We switched out a concert for karaoke which was just as good. There are also different set times where during the day kids are able to participate but at night the drunken adults can take over.

I was sure to find a few drunks lingering around tonight, hopefully, me being one of them. "Come in Ivy." I slipped my clipboard under my underarms and answered my walkie-talkie. "I'm here. Is there a problem?"

It was Constance on the other end. "No we're all good, everything's been accounted for and stock."

I sighed in relief. "Make sure the volunteers know who to report to. I'm going to go let Kevin know to let people in."

"Gotcha."

I walked around the large park that was filled with lots of amusement until I spotted Kevin leaning against a pole.

"Kev,"

Yeah, we pretty much all go by nicknames now. That's right, I have friends. He looks up and smiles when he spots me. "Hey Ivy, ready to go."

I give him two thumbs up to show my enthusiasm. Beyond the gates were a couple of people eager to get in.

Sure it wasn't a lot but it made me happy to know that someone wanted to take a look at something I thought of. In high school, I never impressed anyone with anything I did. It discourages me. This was something I worked really hard on and I really wanted at least one or two people to see it.

Kevin goes up to the gate to speak with the volunteers and I trailed behind him. "Since we're just opening and it's only morning time, one of you collect the money, the other stamp, and the other hand out the tickets."

The ticket was Milo's idea. When I took him to his first concert, it was an indie fest, he said that the ticket reminded him of a fun time with mama. He basically means a souvenir so I thought this would be a great opportunity. Two people from the office appear from behind.

"This is Nico and Tessa. They will be sitting at the table please give the money to them. If you run out of anything or if you come to any problems please go to them. Also when you need a break. They will handle it, they also have walkie-talkies," he pauses, gesturing to the one on his hip.

"Just in case you need to get a hold of me and or my other co-workers. Any questions?" They shake their heads no. A lot of the volunteers were between the ages of 16 and 21, especially since we're serving beer. Some were co-workers from the company.

"Alright, let's get to it!" He shouts with enthusiasm that was practically contagious. The volunteers walked up to the gate and began to let people in.

"What time is Lonnie bringing your son over?"

The group had met both my son and Lonnie not too long ago. It was likely to happen sooner or later seeing as I talk about him a lot. Also, I was surprised one day when everyone came to my bakery just to give it a try and loved it. We've had quite a few customers lately because of them and for that I'm grateful.

"Probably around 2. I don't want him outside all day. Knowing him he's gonna fight me on it."

"I would too, seriously this place is amazing."