"Ms. What's-Her-Name" - as told by Secretary Wendi Rigsby

About six years ago, I started volunteering at the Mission Youth Center.  It was just something for me to do back then.  If someone had told me that I would still be here, I would have laughed.  It seems God had other plans for me.  Here I am, years later, a full-time employee.  Over the years I have been blessed to be able to build relationships with some wonderful children.  I started to become pretty confident that they all loved me.  I was convinced they looked up to me and wanted to be just like me.  I was the perfect role model! Armed with this knowledge, I was really excited when I was able to be present for the first day of high school club this year.  I was on the van and was excited to think of seeing the sheer delight on their faces when they realized I was there.  We pulled up to the first house and blew the horn.  A taller, thinner version of a child I remembered from last year climbed on the van.  I greeted him with a very enthusiastic, "Hey, what have you been up to?"  He then replied rather soberly, "Oh, hey. Uh, nothin'."  That was not a response befitting a super role model.  I convinced myself that he had just had a bad day.  Then they started piling in one after the other.  Most of them entered with a casual "hey," and some even asked my name!  I was shocked!  I have known these children for six years, and they did not know my name!  Had all of my time and effort been for nothing?

Later that day, I overheard some of the teens talking about their first year at club.  They told stories of trips they took and things they did at club and at camp.  One was tellinjg stories of that crazy woman who crawled throught the slides and mazes with them at the Children's Museum in Memphis.  Another told of a woman who helped him figure out how to find the subject and verb of a sentence and how she was just a little too happy about grammar.  They were talking about me!  They did remember me!  Well, sort of.

I realized that it did not really matter that they remembered my name or who I was.  They remembered that I was there.  It is important that they know someone is there for them.  They need to know someone loves them enough to stick around.  Maybe one day, one of them will look back and think, "Ms. What's-Her-Name was really cool; maybe I should give something, too."