A new kick ass crew has rolled in to Operation Double Trouble! We all got down and dirty today! There are so many newbies here, which I love, because they are so inquisitive. They have so many questions, and I love to be able to give the answers. I remain as a Team Lead, but have been given a whole new crew. I have to give it up to the new guys today. They were very patient as we went from property to property determining that tasks had been completed before we got there. It is always good to see that properties still on our list are completed, and the homeowners have been taken care of. It is difficult for a newbie who wants to get out there and work to see this on their first day. Finally we came to a property that was going to take us a good deal of time, so we got right down to work. Even though it only came to about half a day of manual labor, my crew was quite tired in the end. They kicked ass. We arrived to face a pile of debris pushed all together in a tangled mess. The mission was to move that tangled mess to the street about 50 yards away for removal. It wasn’t that the pieces were to large or too heavy, but they were so tangled we had to cut apart the pile at different points, so begin moving. As luck would have it, the guys on the team had a pretty good grasp of how to accomplish this. There wasn’t much room on the road, but we were able to connect with the debris removal contractors and have them take it away so we could start fresh the next day.

It’s a wonderful sight to see a group of people with such amazing hearts come together and work so tirelessly toward their goal. These guys are veterans, civilians, and first responders. They range from age 19 to age 60(ish). They don’t know each other from Adam and here they are focusing on a task together. I feel so fortunate to be a part of this group. It is also great when the group of men I work with don’t seem to notice I am a woman, so they allowed me to be a part of their effortless group. We all had one goal in mind, clean up the mess, and we looked at each other as equals. Each with our own strengths and weaknesses melded together to create a unified team. I wrote yesterday about how communication is difficult, and it is, then you get days like today where communication seems effortless and without noise. It reminds me of when I was at Save A Warrior in the pen with the horses and we were told just to commune with them. Speak is only one form of communication. The layers beneath the noise we make speak so much louder sometimes. So when a team comes together and works in unison it is non-verbal communication at work. It is the willingness of each team member, whether consciously or not, to follow the non-verbal cues of the others around them. Sure we had lots of talking, or ideas about how to do things, but there was no butting of heads, no stress in those conversations. It seemed so effortless. Then again, maybe the others would share a different perception. I do find myself wondering if I could start asking people how they perceived a day, and compare notes. Then sometimes I think I should just let it be, not every day is a social experiment.

I guess today’s message to the wanderer is the same as yesterdays. Watch and Listen more than speak, pay attention to the non-verbal cues and communication, hear what people say with more than just the words they choose to use. It really starts to change your perspective on the people around you.

Signing off Wimberley, TX