Written by Eliza Brown
The thing about working at Garden Spot Village is that we have fun tucked in every nook and cranny…you just have to find it. I found it the morning of August 3, at the Garden Spot softball tournament.
It was a warm, sunny Saturday morning, and about fifty staff participants and many spectators were filing into the parking lot and out of their cars. As I parked my car, I immediately knew I’d done something wrong, because everybody else walking from the parking lot to the field had a chair slung over their shoulder. (Can you tell I’m not a frequent sport spectator?) Not to be deterred, I grabbed a jacket from my trunk that I could sit on and made my way to the shaded area by the softball field.
Family members were setting up chairs, and team members were putting up canopies, adjusting the positions until the shade was just right, standing back to observe their work, then readjusting. Murmurings of “I think we’re gonna win,” and other variations of similar sentiment were heard all around. Water bottles big and small were scattered across the team benches, and coworkers were greeting each other with encouragement and excitement. The energy was palpable. Morale was high. So were the nerves.
A coworker spotted me sitting in the grass and came running over. “Quick! Say something comforting to me!” she blurted out just before the rock, paper, scissors started the game. “You’re going to do great! You do so many great things!” (The words of encouragement were not coming to my brain quickly enough, but I tried.)
As soon as the tournament started, I couldn’t help but smile at the outpouring of support. As every team member approached the plate there was encouragement being shouted from every direction: “Good job!” “Nice hit!” “Good try!” It sounds cheesy out of context, but it made me feel such a sense of pride to call these people my coworkers. Take it from someone who has felt the wrath of middle school gym class, teammates are not always as generous or lovely with their words! But sitting there in the grass that morning, I felt proud of Garden Spot Village and Maple Farm and the teams that formed there. The helpers at work were the helpers behind the scenes during the games; the encouragers were still the encouragers; the jokesters were still keeping the merriment.
Two very well-played games and a hot dog lunch later, The Village People team reigned victorious, and it’s safe to say that a ton of fun was had all around. Everybody came together to try something new that Saturday morning – many were stepping outside their comfort zone to do so – and everybody seemed to walk away with a fully realized understanding of what it means to be a “team member.” And it made me grateful for my teammates here at Garden Spot Village.
