Take (the) Charge: "It is very important to practice falling down."

My summer of Doing Nothing went well, and now it is over.
My energy is up since the weather cooled off (way early!)... and since it has felt important to up it. 
After the school shooting, especially, I felt I should--I want to--dial it up.  

The End of Doll Camp bonfire was the jumping off point. It was the College Student's last day off before Thanksgiving, and she came down for it. Jumping the fire burns off old bad crud and launches a fresh new season:

The gathering of fifteen was a random mix of neighbors, coworkers, and friends--one I hadn't seen since before Covid. The age span was 20 (Amina, Book's Girl) to 89 (former publishing coworker I cat-sit for).

 Fire brings people together though. 
I made a little speech about Doll Camp, and I invited everyone to hold a girlette while I ritually threw their stick raft on the fire. (Several women took a doll, but all the men said their hands were full.)

 I'd set up a table of God's-eye making supplies, and it all felt very convivial. I hadn't said it was a potluck because I don't like telling people to bring things--  I'd rather supply just a few things, and I'd said I'd have popcorn and apple cider, hard and soft. Several people did bring food to share, but not all, so there was not too much--sometimes a problem at potlucks. 

My neighbor played his bouzouki for a while, which is mesmerizing. Afterward, he and another neighbor both said they'd like to gather like this again. One said he could get us firewood.
Yay!

A good use of the shared backyard. 

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One of the few sports moves I know:
TO 'take the charge' in basketball is to plant yourself in front of an offensive player, so they charge into you, knocking you down. 
A foul on their part, and a brave move on yours.

(I know this from Whoopi Goldberg, below, demonstrating it in the 1996 movie Eddie.)

Preparing for our monthly store meeting yesterday, I listened to some podcasts of Working with People. The morning of the meeting, I chose the episode "Take the Blame". 

I worry before meetings that Big Boss will shame and blame us. He rarely does, but it only takes one use of that tactic to make underlings cower like spaniels. 

I thought. . .  If I can outsmart that tactic, it won't have power over me. I sensed that "taking the blame" would be a smart spiritual Ninja move (Ms Chocolate's name). 

The podcast said that taking blame is a Leadership move: 
Good leaders take responsibility for failures, saying, for instance, "I didn't effectively communicate expectations" ––a larger, true perspective––even if the actual details aren't their fault.
The idea is to CLEAR THE DECK for the good of all, so work can move forward.

My Ninja move worked.
Even though BB did not try to shame us, I sat in a position of power, simply having set my Intention beforehand:
that I would take the blame without reacting because (though galling) it is NOT IMPORTANT and to resist it makes it real and gives it power.

To take a charge looks passive, but it takes a strong will not to react. And...

"... If players don't fall, they won't get the call.
It is very important to practice falling down.  
This will decrease a player's risk of getting injured. 
It's very important for the player to fall on their butt and 'sit down' while taking the charge."

The meeting went great: because I wasn't glowering or back-biting, I was effective. No one sets an agenda or takes minutes for our meetings, so there's usually no follow-through; but some stuff got said that I wanted to act on, so at the end of the meeting I said,
"I'm going to write down the points we agreed on. What were they again?"

And then Jester (Mr Mushroom) and I got right on it!
Details aren't important, but one of the things I did on my own was to cover rusty shelves with donated contact paper. (There wasn't enough for all, but I covered several shelves.)
VERY EXCITING.

I'm just a minimum-wage worker, but I am some kind of leader at my workplace. 
What kind?
I don't know how to describe it.
I am not a rally-the-troops leader; I hate giving orders... I doubt I inspire my coworkers... 
My friend Kathy Moran, who died at 57 years old, got her MA in Leadership, and I wish she were around to ask about it.

A coworker I rarely see (she works one day/week, and it's usually my day off) came to my Labor Day bonfire. I was so pleased, and a little surprised. She got into making God's eyes, and at the end of the evening, she hugged me warmly and said, "I love you."

"I love you too," I said. 
I guess I do, but I was surprised--we barely know each other. Why would she say that?

And I remembered--five years ago, she was very sick with Covid. She was supposed to do something in my department, and she texted that she was too wrung out even to watch TV.

My workplace does nothing for people who are out sick, so I bought apple cider, ginger snaps, lemon drops, and some other comforting things--including a little stuffed bear from our store--and dropped them outside her apartment.
That's a sort of leadership. 
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Book-Alike

Who knew I'd would ever admire anything about Mike Pence, but he did speak up when Trump pulled a coup. Otherwise I know little about him--except . . . it seems he used to be a young witch in the 1980s?
Look at those faces without their hair...

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sometimes, like yesterday, I get a tamale after work at the Mexican grocery by the bus stop. Cheese and jalapeno, $3.50.
Look--I'm wearing a jacket! It was only 59ªF at 4 pm.

Thanks, everyone who commented or emailed on my last post--I'm glad you're here. 
I just can't handle comments though (I get all neurotic about social media!), so I've left them Off, but emails are welcome.

Love ya!

On we go!