What's been going on: Fall for Dance, Clothing Exchange Party, Back to School Curriculum Night at Simone's daycare, Parents Day at my school, first board meeting (I'm now on the parents board for Simone's daycare), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, first meeting of the Trinity Science Club, teaching Neuroscience and Behavior, Simone being sick and not sleeping (just a virus but we finally gave her drugs last night and it worked).
A lovely afternoon with firefighter Simone:
Her new favorite swinging position:
E and I went to the Met two Saturdays ago - first thing we checked out was the redone American wing. I enjoyed checking out the storage units...and seeing if I could identify all the Frank Lloyd Wright objects:
E and I got separated at the crazy full Vermeer Milkmaid exhibition. After waiting a while I just went up to see the roof sculpture and texted E to let him know where I was.
The other day S spilled juice on her pants right before we were going to go out. So I put on a new pair - 2Ts. Alas, we discovered on our way to the subway station that they were a little big around the waist:
Problem solved - rolled down her waistband.
Mommy (come down with me)!
But she eventually went down all by herself - brave girl!
Don't be fooled - S still hates getting her teeth brushed:
My little green leprauchan:
Grandma's here! Her favorite NYC activity: reading Cooking Light ad copying recipes from it (yes, she knows you can get them on-line). :)
Grandma gave S some stickers which S used to decorate her high chair and which Dad removed a few hours later...
My sister and I went to lunch (silent auction win) with one of the actresses from the new tv show, Glee. The chef gave us a tour of the kitchen and showed us how to make fresh mozz.
***
Roots story:
In the beginning, there was an African American girl in the Bronx who spent most Saturdays at home watching tv, playing video games, and envying her older brother who had a mentor.
In the beginning, there was me, an Asian American thirtysomething woman who thought mentoring was important, but had never done it, at least not like this. I had my doubts – what would I talk about with a girl this age? Would we be able to connect? Would a weekly commitment like this be overwhelming?
In the beginning, there was a rough start. The girl didn’t want to talk to the woman in public places like the subway. She felt like everyone was staring at them when they went to McDonald’s together. She didn’t want to go to the special dance performance I had bought tickets for in advance because the girl had said she liked ballet. It was a discouraging first few weeks.
Things got better. The girl had a great time bowling for the first time. We shared laughs as we got caught in the rain and ran through Central Park to find shelter. We discovered a mutual love of reading. Saturdays began to be a time we both looked forward to.
We got to know each other. She played a killer Hangman. She had a knack for reading poetry aloud. The girl could be headstrong and showed it, like the time I tried to take her somewhere I considered nice, Alice’s Tea Cup, and she wanted to just wait outside. I discovered she would only eat hotdogs, French fries, maybe pizza, and she loooved cherry icees (which are very hard to find below a certain street number).
I tried to plan things I thought she would like and also asked her what she wanted to do. But I also hoped it would be communicated that it wasn’t just about her. I tried to expose her to a lot of different experiences and was sometimes disappointed when she didn’t enjoy them. I learned about myself - how I could sometimes be impatient but also how I could also be very patient.
The time commitment wasn’t easy. I gave up my one free day of the week to spend with my mentee. I spent hours on the subway and bus. My husband sacrificed his Saturdays, too, watching our one-year-old daughter. Actually, that was the real reason I joined Roots – to force them to spend quality time together. ☺
But this ministry was important to me and to my family. I showed up. We made the effort. My hope was to show God’s love to the girl and her family with my consistency and care. By the end of our year together I was encouraged – not only did I get direct positive feedback from the family, but another girl was referred to Roots because she heard good things from them. Even the oldest daughter in the family, a fashion diva whom I imagined was dressing me down every time I showed up at the doorstep, said she wouldn’t mind a mentor like her sister’s.
I’m very thankful for my year as a mentor. My only regret is that there aren’t more people to continue the ministry. I hope you’ll all consider joining Roots.
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