Originally published in LLL of New Mexico’s Enchantment, 1987
La Leche League Leaders are bag ladies. They can be counted on to bring in boxes, files, suitcases, shopping bags, and trays of all kinds of stuff to an LLL meeting.
Some Groups don’t have official librarians, reprint people, treasurers, or greeters. So the library, reprints, books for sale, and name tags and markers have to come with a Leader. Then there are the posters, big puzzles, the B-R-E-A-S-T-F-E-E-D-I-N-G chart, series announcements, and the books you’re going to lend another Leader. It can result in quite a stack. And quite a headache on meeting day.
The following nine-point plan of attach may help you make meeting day a little easier for you and your family and get all the necessary things to the meeting.
1. Start a pile a week before the meeting. It’s the thinking that takes time, not just the actual packing. Someone’s always asking for something special to be brought to a meeting: a Leader Application form, special LLL book, camera, etc. The pile can be in a box in the garage or just a stack on your desk. It helps you feel more settled as meeting day approaches.
2. Pack the car early. Gayle Plog once told us at a South District Workshop that it always seemed her children had a crisis right before an LLL meeting. Just at the time she needed to fill the car with stuff, her kids suddenly demanded her undivided attention. She learned to pack early.
3. Tell your husband (teenager, etc.) which car you plan to take. All my stuff disappeared one morning when my husband drove away with the things I’d carefully packed the night before. That made us even: I once sent a two-pound tub of margarine in hs lunchbox, thinking it was a tub of leftover spaghetti.
4. Consolidate. Use sturdy boxes with hand holes or bags with loops for carrying. The fewer trips you have to make to the car, the less likely it is you’ll need something in the middle of the meeting that’s still in your trunk.
5. Start a countdown. Take a tip from all those shuttle and rocket launches. Start a countdown and announce how it’s going. The smaller your children are, the earlier the countdown begins. Meeting mornings and evenings can be quite hectic if you suddenly announce to your children they’ve got ten minutes to brush teeth, find their tennis shoes, and get their jackets on. Let your kids know in advance what’s expected.
6. Leave the library and other bulky, heavy items at the home of the hostess. If possible, leave them there for a month or for the series, however long she’ll be hostessing. One of our Carlsbad hostesses said she liked having he library at her house. She was able to read some of the books! Or take over some of the boxes the day before the meeting. This is a nice way to remind her of what’s happening the next day.
7. Leave a stash of masking tape, markers, writing pens, and meeting sign-up sheets in the library so it will stay with the hostess.
8. Arrive early. The ideal time to arrive is early enough to make another trip home if you have to. Karen Drexler reported that she once found that she had left her poster at home and went back to get it after she and her co-Leader started the meeting. When she returned, she found it very difficult to fit the poster into the discussion. Also, every hostess appreciates help with arranging things and any last minute clean-ups, especially if she has a small child or is hostessing for the first time.
9. Pack up carefully. While packing things back into your car, consider what you might be able to leave with your hostess and what you need to handle immediately, like membership checks. You might not get around to looking into one of your boxes until it’s time for the next meeting, so taking some time now makes sense.
Packing for a meeting can be stressful, especially if you’re the one leading the discussion. You’ve got a lot on your mind already. Make your life a little easier and pack early, carefully, and efficiently.
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