Volunteering Provides Balance

In going through some old computer files recently, I came across this Frugal Fridays article I wrote back in September, 2007:

There are people in every area of life who become obsessed with one activity, whether it’s their job or a leisure-time hobby. A workaholic in any career may find that his family takes second place to his job. A woman may neglect her children because she spends too much time in computer chat rooms. Even a person who reads or watches TV all the time may find that close relationships suffer.

Someone who gambles faces the same dangers. A professional gambler who needs to make a living usually finds that it requires much more than a 40-hour-a-week schedule and the hours are not necessarily 9-to-5. If he’s a family man, this often puts a big strain on his wife and children. I’ve noticed the fact that a large percentage of professional gamblers are single or divorced.  Even if gambling is a leisure activity, some of these same factors can negatively impact home life and relationships, especially if family or friends don’t share this interest.

Although the majority of people who gamble are not obsessed with it, there’s no doubt that gambling is an intense activity.

Brad and I were brought together 22 years ago by our common interest in gambling – we met in an Indiana Moose Lodge tonk game – and ever since, casino gambling has been a major activity that we both enjoy, usually in the company of each other. For the first years, while we were still living and working in Indiana and had to journey to Vegas and other casino destinations, we balanced intense gambling while we were away with a more leisurely lifestyle when we were in Indiana, with time to do volunteer work that we enjoyed. We visited seniors and provided transportation with the Visiting Nurse Service and did many projects with the Salvation Army.

After several years, I “accidentally” – I never planned for this – fell into a gaming writing career that took more and more of my time and left less time for other activities. And when we finally moved to Las Vegas permanently, we found the town a gambling pressure cooker – so many lucrative opportunities – to do and to write about. So for many years now, we have lived a very intense life, fun but extremely busy.

Brad never seems to lose interest in gambling, even though he’s been doing it since he was five years old. But he does limit his time in a casino these days, because of the smoke and the lack of endurance that heart disease and medication cause. However, for the last couple of years I’ve found my interest in gambling to be waning. I’ve begun to wake up to the fact that I’m weary of too many hours every week taken up with the subject of casinos. If I haven’t been planning when and where to gamble or been actually in a casino gambling or picking up bounce-back, I’ve been reading or writing about gambling and casinos.

Recently, I came to the realization that I needed – and wanted – more balance in my life. I wanted an activity that had to do with “real” life, something far away from “artificial life” in the casino. And I wanted to do something that was beneficial to others.

Therefore, I’ve gone back into the classroom. Not in a high school where I spent so many of my early working years teaching English to teenagers, but as a volunteer in an elementary school down the street from where we live. Several times a week I spend a couple of hours helping small groups of 2nd graders improve their reading skills. And I’m loving it!

No, I’m not giving up our casino life. But this new activity is giving me some balance that I sorely need. And even though I’m gambling fewer hours, I find I’m now back to enjoying it more.

My how time flies.  I am just finishing up the fifth year of this activity.  After that first year helping in the 2nd grade, I demoted myself to the kindergarten class, providing hundreds of hours of joy and satisfaction – and thousands of hugs.

Recently I even persuaded Brad to tag along with me.  The little ones just swarm him when we arrive, begging to have the privilege of a special one-on-one reading session with him.  We call these tykes our little “sponges.”  Although many come from non-English-speaking families and/or  disadvantaged environments, their thirst for learning is a constant motivator for us and a welcome change from our gambling life.  However, there is occasionally an only-in-Vegas moment, when one will tell us about a parent’s job in a casino.  And I was amazed as one little girl took a pile of math flashcards and riffled them as expertly as any blackjack dealer.  It turned out her aunt who taught her this skill is a dealer.

Recently the school had a Dr. Suess Week and Brad and I joined the fun!