The Paisley Grace Fan Club---South Africa Chapter
It started off innocently enough…..new grandma wants to share recent photos of first grandchild with Peace Corps buddies…..About fifteen of us had gathered at the Peace Corps headquarters to be transported to the training site selected for our mid-service training three hours away. We would train there for 4 days, the original 32 volunteers I began with who are working in organizations struggling to stem the HIV/AIDs epidemic. I received the obligatory ooohs and ahhhhs for the pix of my adorable 6-month old granddaughter, Paisley Grace. Of course, I am a bit biased as to her outstanding qualities…..but the raves didn’t stop…..from out of the mouths of the young females in our group came:
“Oh my gosh, look at those beautiful eyes.”
“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe how cute she is.”
“Look how sweet she looks in those sunglasses and swimsuit.”
“Can you believe how precious she is?”
“…..And all that hair!”
And even though we were separated in two vans on our way to the “Honeymoon Lodge,” the exclamations kept coming.
Well, not one to lose an opportunity, I proposed to the ring leader, Liz, that we start a “Paisley Grace Fan Club---South Africa Chapter.” Then the fight was on to establish the officer positions and who was eligible to be a founding member. Liz, of course, insisted on becoming President. She decreed that boys were not allowed to be members, but, perhaps could form an auxiliary organization, if they chose. Nonetheless, the next night we held our first annual meeting which happened to coincide with the dance party which had already been organized to entice one of the volunteers, Brad, to perform his outstanding “break dancing” feats which have been the subject of much rumor over the past 8 months since we have all been together. Needless to say, he needed a little coaxing. We had no electricity that night so two of us who had a flashing feature on our headlamps, provided a cool strobe-light effect in the darkened conference room. Then, all we needed was music which was provided by the Ipod that someone had intelligently thought to bring. Although most of the music played was from a decade where I must have been hidden under a rock, we danced our little hearts out. After several Castle beers and $1.50 wine were consumed, the party came alive. Brad performed his amazing break dance and the Paisley Grace Fan Club conducted our first annual meeting. We chose the remaining officers and members.
President---Liz
Secretary---Steph
Vice-Secretary---Sophia
Treasurer---Bree
Brenda was the only other member that I can recall voting in that night, but, I’m sure there must be more. The last order of business on the agenda was, “what do I get if I join the fan club?” So, the idea came to me that we must all have Paisley Grace Fan Club---South Africa Chapter tee-shirts
The last time that we gather as a group before we all head for home is called, COS, or Close of Service, which include several days with Peace Corps staff next June where we begin the process of saying good-bye to Africa, closing our work projects, saying good-bye to our African friends and looking forward to the adjustments and plans we’ll have to make to rejoin our family and friends in the good ole’ US of A…..we’ll see if we can get the tee-shirt idea off the ground then!
“Oh my gosh, look at those beautiful eyes.”
“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe how cute she is.”
“Look how sweet she looks in those sunglasses and swimsuit.”
“Can you believe how precious she is?”
“…..And all that hair!”
And even though we were separated in two vans on our way to the “Honeymoon Lodge,” the exclamations kept coming.
Well, not one to lose an opportunity, I proposed to the ring leader, Liz, that we start a “Paisley Grace Fan Club---South Africa Chapter.” Then the fight was on to establish the officer positions and who was eligible to be a founding member. Liz, of course, insisted on becoming President. She decreed that boys were not allowed to be members, but, perhaps could form an auxiliary organization, if they chose. Nonetheless, the next night we held our first annual meeting which happened to coincide with the dance party which had already been organized to entice one of the volunteers, Brad, to perform his outstanding “break dancing” feats which have been the subject of much rumor over the past 8 months since we have all been together. Needless to say, he needed a little coaxing. We had no electricity that night so two of us who had a flashing feature on our headlamps, provided a cool strobe-light effect in the darkened conference room. Then, all we needed was music which was provided by the Ipod that someone had intelligently thought to bring. Although most of the music played was from a decade where I must have been hidden under a rock, we danced our little hearts out. After several Castle beers and $1.50 wine were consumed, the party came alive. Brad performed his amazing break dance and the Paisley Grace Fan Club conducted our first annual meeting. We chose the remaining officers and members.
President---Liz
Secretary---Steph
Vice-Secretary---Sophia
Treasurer---Bree
Brenda was the only other member that I can recall voting in that night, but, I’m sure there must be more. The last order of business on the agenda was, “what do I get if I join the fan club?” So, the idea came to me that we must all have Paisley Grace Fan Club---South Africa Chapter tee-shirts
The last time that we gather as a group before we all head for home is called, COS, or Close of Service, which include several days with Peace Corps staff next June where we begin the process of saying good-bye to Africa, closing our work projects, saying good-bye to our African friends and looking forward to the adjustments and plans we’ll have to make to rejoin our family and friends in the good ole’ US of A…..we’ll see if we can get the tee-shirt idea off the ground then!
posted by Judy @ 2:34 PM
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