G ift of M yself

1. Gift of Myself By Emily Asbury HLA 1/2

2. Introduction For my gift I cleaned out my aunt Belinda’s van. I chose to clean out my aunt’s van because she has had four back surgeries and recently adopted two young children. Due to those factors, it is not only hard for her to bend down and clean, but she rarely has time for it. I created this gift on Tuesday, December 27th, 2011, at around 7:30 p.m. I performed this task at my aunt’s house in her garage. This gift took about 3 hours and 34 minutes.

3. 1) This was my aunt’s van before I performed the gift. At this point I was overwhelmed mostly by the trash inside the van. However, the look of the van before I performed my gift made me feel like I was doing an even greater act of kindness than I thought.

4. 2) In this photo I was cleaning everything out of the van, including the mats. I was very excited to get started on my gift. But I soon realized there was a lot more trash than I thought.

5. 3) In this photo I was finished removing everything from the van and started to vacuum. I felt that the vacuuming was harder than the removal of the items. I was excited because I thought I was almost finished, but I was most definitely wrong.

6. 4) After the vacuuming was finished, it was time to go inside and create a mixture of Pine-Sol and water to clean the interior of the van. I was excited to be able to move onto a new step because the vacuuming took so long.

7. 5) After I created the Pine-Sol Water, I was ready to put it into use. I used the mixture and a brown rag to wash the inside of the van. I was amazed how great the mixture worked.

8. 6) After I was finished cleaning the interior, I was ready to polish it. The leather cleaner I used had a great effect on the look and feel of the leather. At this point I was getting a little tired, and I began to develop a headache.

9. 7) Due to my headache I had to take about a three minute break and take some Aleve. After my brief break I was back to work cleaning the windows. I felt very tired at the point because it was late, and the headache didn’t help that.

10. 8) At this point my medicine had kicked in, and I was back to work. My next step was to clean the mats, so back inside I went. I cleaned the mats with my leftover Pine-Sol Water. I was very eager to finish my project.

11. 9) After I was finished cleaning the mats, it was time to place them back in the van. This was the most difficult for me because the mats had buttons to fasten into and I was too weak to press them in. At this point I felt very frustrated because the mats were so difficult for me to place.

12. 10) I was now ready to put on seat covers in the back seats. The seat covers were also difficult for me to place because they were one big piece you had to stretch out. I was excited at this point because I wasn’t even finished but the van look amazing!

13. 11) Due to the fact that the seat covers were packed tightly in a closet, I decided to add an additional step and take a lint brush to them. This part was the most relaxing for me because I finally got to sit down!

14. 12) My aunt loves butterflies, so she purchased butterfly stickers to go on her newly clean van. This was my final step and the step that took the least time. I was ecstatic that I was finally finished!

15. 13) At last I was finished! I was absolutely thrilled with the final result. In my opinion, it didn’t even look like the same van! I was very tired afterward and knew that I would sleep well that night.

16. Conclusion I finally finished my project at around 11 p.m. My overall reaction to this experience, to be honest, was amazement. I didn’t know I could complete such a task. It was hard work, but it was worth it. I didn’t know I could complete such a monumental task, and it made me realize I could be a great help to others. My aunt says that it took stress away from her day and mind, knowing she no longer had to clean the van. She was in “utter amazement.” I will voluntarily repeat this project not only for my aunt but for other people because it made my aunt and me feel so good.

17. 14) This is an additional before and after collage I created on Picnik.com. I created this so you could see the before and after next to each other. I was shocked when I realized the difference.