For me, it is an everyday experience to be amazed, impressed, awed, or educated by something in San Diego North County North San Diego County for this position, having spent most of my life in the Midwest . This brings me back to my original point: the wonder, amazement, and new knowledge I am encountering here.
I attribute this awe etc. as happening because Southern California is so entirely new to me. I have to stop when I see a plant in someone’s yard that I have only known to grow in pots inside. Not to mention the lizards, the ocean, the weather, the landscape. I am awed by the natural and manmade wonders; growing up on a dirt road, I never imagined my adult self navigating freeways on a daily basis. I am soaking up every tidbit of knowledge I can about the culture, climate, my job, the dangers and rewards of this place. But I’m in my fifth week here, and can notice my level of engagement with my surroundings normalizing to a regular adult level; I don’t have to stop and inspect every flower, because I saw some just like them last week.
I love the experience of newness. I can only imagine, and try to remember, what the newness of a human’s first five years is like, compared the newness I have experienced the past five weeks. In this time in a person’s development, there are no new flowers; flowers are new. I’m learning new nonprofit related acronyms and jargon, but for a child under five, language and the physical ability to form words is being developed. No wonder longing for the ability to see through a child’s eyes is such a cliché sentiment. No wonder so many adults get a kick out of seeing a child play, or raising children themselves.
It is also no wonder why this time is so important in a person’s development. Early childhood is when children learn the basis of their lifelong development. Adults enrolled in preschool as children are statistically save more money, have higher employment, are more likely to graduate from high school, and are less likely to be arrested. That is why it is so important to offer affordable preschool to families in need. Early childhood development is an essential part of creating successful adults, who can break the cycle of poverty. That is why North County Community Services offers quality childhood development to income qualified families living or working in North San Diego County
What a relief to know that as exciting as my first five weeks in San Diego North County has been, it’s not as big of a deal as my first five years. I’m glad to have gotten that over with… in that “I wish I could go back” sort of way.
Abby Weglarz
Volunteer Coordinator
North County Community Services
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