Crazy Keeps Me Sane

I'm a sucker. It's stamped on my forehead. Put me under a blacklight and you'll see it.

Birthday cakes? No problemo.

Kid-watch? Sure thing. (If your kid isn't a pain, and even sometimes when she is.)

Water your plants while you are on vacation? My pleasure!

Chair the fundraiser auction? You betcha! 

Two years in a row? What's one more year!

Oversee the annual float for the town celebration? Whoop! Whoop! 

Work with you to grow your business? I'm here for ya, sista! 

Run the place while you are on vacation? I can handle that. 

Before you dial my digits for a solid, know this: I'm only a sucker for my friends and family.

I do these things out of love. Out of a desire to participate. Out of a willingness to help and make a difference when and where needed. 

Almost three years ago a dear friend I call Crazy told me of a little plan she had. A plan for a business. A plan for a great business that would be amazing in our city. She's not Crazy because she's loco en la cabeza, she's Crazy because she's always doing. Doing, doing, doing. I'm not sure she knows what the insides of her home or her eyelids look like. Honestly. 

That craziness makes her a great friend too. Why? Because she is always up for anything. And so is her hubs. She dressed them up as Elsa and Kristoff for Halloween 2014. Nobody dresses up for our party except kids. Halloween 2015? All the cool adults dressed up. Star Wars theme for most and then there's the new neighbor who purchased a kids-sized gorilla costume for himself, a full-sized man. Hi-larious. Why were all the middle-aged kids dressed for candy collecting? You guessed it. Crazy said so! 

Call them on Friday afternoon to go out that night? Most often you'll get a "Yes! What should we do!?" response. And no matter what you end up doing with the night, they have joy and humor the entire time. They are amazing people. 

So when she hatched this plan for a business I was ready to be supportive. 100%. 

"Great idea!" 

"You'll be so successful!" 

"Let me know if you need mailings and flyers."

And when she said, "Would you be one of our tour guides? You'll love it!" I hesitated and said, "If you find yourself really hard-up for help, let me know!" and smiled. 

And when she called and said "I have a tour I need you to help with." I swallowed my hesitations and fears and said "What's the date?"

And you know what? Crazy was right. I loved it. And somehow I'm no longer strictly a tour guide, but I've snuck into another role. A position with a title that rests next to "Owner's Friend". I'm currently living the stay-at-home mom dream of working part-time from a home office... and doing it in yoga pants if I please. Sure there are days when I snag an event for myself, get all gussied up and lead a tour group of company execs just for the sake of fun. Because I really am in love with my job.

What is this dream job? I'm living it up as the Tours & Events Manager for Omaha Culinary Tours. That's right, food tours. Like five different restaurant/specialty shoppe stops in a three hour tour. All serving you their specialty menu item. What's not to love? A little local area history, an amazing tour guide and a variety of Omaha Original Restaurants. Bam! You have yourself an evening of fun and food!

So day-to-day I shuttle kids, do favors for friends and work a little on the side for Crazy. With Crazy. I'm becoming a little bit crazy myself as I get deeper and deeper into this exciting business. And as I do, I realize how sane this job is keeping me. It gives me a focus and consistency and reliability and a sense of accomplishment. I'm appreciated and that feels so good.

I recently went to Crazy with the fact that C-dub, the little, is going to start Kindergarten in the fall... My baby!!! **tears, sobs,**... I digress... and I needed to either
a) get more hours from the company
or
b) look elsewhere for a job
in anticipation of the date when my nest is empty for seven hours a day. (August 12, 2016.)

(Eeeek!! I like love my job! I don't want a job elsewhere! ...deep breaths...)

Accommodating.
That's the word for Crazy and her business partner... they came up with two ways to keep me and get me the hours I need and maintain my ability to drop off & pick up kids from school, to be the party parent, to be there on sick days and for field trips.
Sanity with the crazy = LOVE!

So for now I'll keep on keepin' on with the hours I have, setting up walking tours and bus tours and finding the perfect fit for a corporate group's private event. I'll contact restaurants and bus companies. Write scripts for tour guides and order cupcake desserts and Cordial Cherries. Pick up kids from school and take care of them when they are sick. On occasion I'll load up a group on a shuttle bus and take them to some of Omaha's finest restaurants. I'll keep my own level of crazy going and in it I'll find sanity.

On a daily basis I'm in love with this new gig I've let myself be "suckered" into. Because doing so keeps me sane.

Crazy keeps me sane.