Links   E-mail             Print              Comments Advertisement

When my parents -- exhausted, sweaty and dusty -- stamped their work boots at the doormat and trooped toward my room with a third shovel in hand, I only had one natural reaction.

I closed the door as fast as I could.

No way did I want to spend my summer afternoons renovating our yard under the glaring sun, without my music or phone or friends. But 10 minutes later, I was dressed in old work clothes and sulkily donning itchy green garden gloves as slowly as possible.

I won't pretend I've had the best attitude toward my parents -- or our backyard -- this summer. We yank out clumps of grass, sift rocks and roots from the dirt like human colanders and dump wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of soil and gravel from one hole to another.

Before long, I mope uselessly around the lawn. My spirits are weary far sooner than my muscles. Perhaps I'm not the best worker. Despite this, though, I can't say the time spent is all bad.

It's a summery day in Bellevue, the sunshine makes the whole yard seem splashy and green, and I can already distinguish the beginnings of what is sure to be a beautiful backyard. But the best part?

I'm making a difference. It isn't a huge difference, granted, affecting only my family and neighbors. But I might have fueled that valuable energy toward YouTubing, chatting online or just hovering hopelessly indoors. I might have fallen prey to the stuffy boredom that always seems to set in two weeks after the school year ends.

Not today. Not this summer.

I'm spending time outside, I'm being active, but mostly I'm showing my family I care enough to help. When I look back on these precious months, when I had utter freedom, I know I'd rather remember completing this project than mindlessly Facebooking.

There are so many ways to make the most of your summer right from your own neighborhood. Besides helping your family with home renovation projects, you can make the most of these three months by volunteering.

Two summers ago, I planned to temporarily volunteer at a therapeutic riding center. But I connected with my four riders, fellow volunteers and the 20 horses so deeply that I stayed throughout the following two school years, unable to quit when September rolled around. By helping out the center and getting to know the riders, my summer felt meaningful and had a purpose: giving back to the community.

Last summer, I also volunteered at a children's museum, spending all day playing with kids and passing out birthday cake. I came home each afternoon with frosting on my elbows, acrylic paint smeared on my nose, and a radiant smile on my face. The kids never failed to make me laugh and the work was, without a doubt, much more fun and rewarding than staying home alone.

The volunteering possibilities aren't limited to the organizations your school suggests for your community service hours. Follow your interests and work as a tutor, at a museum, as a counselor at a day camp, or an organizer of an event, just find a way to be motivated and get inspired.

Whether you help your parents in your backyard or volunteer in your community, you're getting out of the house and effectively breaking open the fortune cookie of possibility. The fortune's in your palm. Will you unfold it?

* Elissa Bernstein, 16, is a junior at Interlake High School in Bellevue, Wash. She has written for The Kirkland Reporter and The Bellevue Reporter.