I’ve know I’ve kept you waiting long enough, so here’s the exciting conclusion to “A Day in the Life”… enjoy! If you didn’t get a chance to read the first part, you can do so here
2:05pm: We hand the keys to Lenore over to Arturo (owner of Imperial Tire Plus), who takes her for a drive around the parking lot, listening intently. He then pulls her into the garage and puts her up on the jacks so they can have a closer look. At this point, we are realizing things can not be good.
2:30pm: Arturo comes to tell us that not only are the brakes shot, but the rotors are also going to need replaced. Derek asks to take a look, and goes over to Lenore, looks around then comes back into the waiting area to call Billy and talk about the damage. ??2:41pm: We get the go-ahead, and Arturo and his team begin working, assuring us that Lenore will be good to go by 5pm, giving us time to make it to our event in LA at 6.
I have calls and emails to catch up on, and we are making dinner for our Falling Whistles friends. Arturo cannot remember the wireless password at the shop, but tells us there is a Starbucks nearby, so I decide to walk there to try to tackle some calls and emails I need to make. Meanwhile, Lisa and Derek decide to go to the grocery store to get food to make since there will be no time between Lenore being finished and the start time of our event.
3:00pm: I arrive at the Starbucks, and luckily snag a table near an outlet. I plug my computer in and begin listing out emails that I know I need to write. By the time I finish, I have 27 drafts started. Wow.
I begin furiously writing emails, and lose track of the time.
4:48pm: I look at my phone and realize Derek and Lisa should be by any minute to get me, so I text Lisa to see how things are going. Imperial Tire Plus was waiting on parts and needed to also replace the drums, so now Lenore won’t be finished until 6 – the time we’re supposed to start cooking dinner.
I call David, our contact for the event, but he doesn’t answer. I leave him a voicemail, hoping he checks it before we are supposed to arrive.
5:14pm: I snap back into work mode while I wait, and unexpectedly get a call from Mike Spear at StayClassy.org, a website that “makes it easy to find, plan and support charity events in all sorts of cool new ways”. (MIT rated the one of the top 30 startups in the country.)
Mike and I talked about how Nuru can use the website, when it’s new version rolls out on March 1, to promote and maximize our events and fundraising efforts. I hang up excited about the potential the site has to offer and ready to populate it with all of our events and information in hopes to broaden our support base.
6:05pm: I make another phone call, and am hanging up just as Derek walks up behind me. Four hours and hundreds of dollars after Lenore rolled into Imperial Tire Plus, she’s as good as new and we need to get to LA.
6:17pm: We are driving down the freeway when I get a text from David. He was in a meeting, but says they can be flexible with the start time and wants to know if we’re okay. I assure him everything is fine and that we’ll be at the house around 7.
7:08pm: We arrive at the Falling Whistles house and immediately start cooking dinner. While dinner is cooking, we have the opportunity to engage with people by talking about what Nuru does and allowing them to ask questions.
8:11pm: Derek announced that dinner is ready. Everyone gets food, but we are all still engaged in conversation about what each of us do and how we do it. It is an amazing night of good food and an opportunity for two nonprofits to learn from one another.
9:45pm: We take a tour of the Falling Whistles office (attached to the house) and Sean Carasso shows us some photos of what they’ve been up to lately. We dream together of what it could look like if our culture engaged global issues, and how we can be a part of opening their eyes to the realities of the developing world.
11:37pm: We’ve been talking for hours and I had no clue what time it is until someone mentions going back to the Falling Whistles intern house, where we will be staying for the night.
11:45pm: We arrive at the intern house, beginning to realize how exhausted we are. I shower and begin getting ready for bed, but end up back in the living room, chatting excitedly with Mallory and Justine, two of the Falling Whistles interns, about tour and life that we lead.
12:30am: I finally break from conversation and make my way to bed. As I lay down, I reflect on the day, realizing that this is not normal, even though it’s the life I’ve grown accustomed to. I set my alarm for 7:00am (I have a meeting with Tanner in the morning), and fall asleep thinking what an honor it is to live even one day of this life.