The Pied Piper

You know the bulletin board at the grocery store?  Or the community center or inside your favorite fish market.  You know the place in the middle of nowhere has a bulletin board too.

On those bulletin boards, or taped to counters or to walls there are announcements.  Things for sales.  Missing pets.  Upcoming activities.  Services offered.  Some of them have those "tear off" slips with a phone number.  Others just tell you when and where to go to do/get/see whatever it is.  I guess Craigslist is life's ultimate "bulletin board" - and it changed my life.

I'm the person whom stops and looks at those.  Not all the time.  Not every time.  Not only do I look at them, I then act upon those little "callings" in life.  I call.  I show up.

Example One:  Jr Lifeguard training.  There was a half of a piece of paper taped to the wall between the public bathrooms on the public beach last summer.

Example Two:  Craigslist - I could list a million things here, but that's an older blog.

Example Three:  Last week in a place called "The Poke Shack"  (pronounced Po-kee), there was a flyer on the counter about a "FREE BOOTCAMP"  Three weeks - every Wednesday and Saturday.

I had gone paddling on Saturday morning, so I missed the first Saturday.  I went on Wednesday.  There were 5 of us plus the instructor and her husband.  The boot camp is on the same lawn as the bay where I go paddle.  It was a good work out.  When it was almost over, I asked, "So, why are you doing this for free".  She answered, "well, we are in town for 3 weeks and I don't want to work out alone.  That way I have people to work out with.".  Okay, I'm now in love with the best idea ever.

What a great idea!!! Find something you like to do.  Tell others that you are offering it "for free" - boom, you suddenly have a group of people all doing what you like to do!

Yes, we all spoke about how it hard to go do something on your own, by yourself.  It's always easier when you have someone else.  Yet, here we were, a group of individuals, going to do something by ourselves with other people.

Then in turn, I told them about me and the Canoe Club.  "It's right here, Tues/Thurs/Sat at 6:30am or 8am - be about ten minutes early.  It's a great group.  Everyone is very friendly and it's free."  (If you want to join the club you can, which I did today - the dues are good for a year)

One of the women from boot camp showed up this morning for paddling, and she brought a friend.  Another one showed up for the 8am group.

And so it continues.....