that lovely email. It was more than a hello email, even though it was just a few paragraphs. You are a talented writer, Charli,” I knew my face flushed because I felt hot and her words felt so important I focused on her bright, watery green eyes.
“In those few paragraphs somehow you let me know that you wanted more than a job. You wanted a chance at life. You wanted to choose something for yourself and you needed it more than you could let on. That is why I have faith in you. Because once upon a time, I left the most beautiful village you might ever see because there was not a shred of myself left in my life. We all need something for ourselves. You want to succeed; you want to prove that you can own something as bad as I did when I took a flight to the US with nothing but hope and some pride. I have faith in you because once, I had to have faith in myself when no one else did.”
“Sara,” Again I swiped at my eyes because now both our eyes were watery, “thank you. For...for the job, for the cottage. Really though, for letting me take a chance, even if I fail. I need a chance to fail, to try things. Thank you. I can’t.... you might be my sweet Irish fairy godmother.” We laughed and she shoved my sushi at me.
“Don’t forget mouthy and inappropriate, Charli. Speaking of, how lovely to look at is your new landlord? If I didn’t love Gwen like a sister, Jesus the things I’d let Deacon do to me!” Then we were laughing, the tears different as she carried on about him and his apparently equally hot son.
Before the end of the day, we were deep into the mentoring program and I knew it was a perfect fit for me. Besides knowing what it was like to want a chance at something, which this program could offer, it was a great way for me to make my mark here. Just like Sara said. If I could create a program with a positive impact on the kids here, it would prove to Sara and myself I made the right choice.
After a midafternoon talk with Deacon, where we talked about furniture and painters, I could not have felt more like I had in fact made the right choice. I could move in within the next week and had his promise it would be all ready to go. I had to promise to drop him some donuts, homemade of course, at his fire house and I was all too glad to throw an apron back on.
Most of my night was spent outlining the program and going over the mentors Sara had lined up for the first week. It was to be an eight-week program but so far we had just five mentors lined up. It was an additional life building program offered to the high school students Sara was so passionate about building futures for.
The mentors each had a week to speak to the kids who signed up, which so far was a good number. During that week they would hold sessions with smaller groups of the kids, to allow more one on one time. There would also be visits to businesses, when positions allowed for it. This would allow chances for the kids to get a feel of what their day-to-day was.
My first task was to fill out the rest of the weeks with mentors, as we were short a few. At the moment, we had two men Deacon had offered; his son Cage would lead the first week and a police officer named Blake Stiles would lead the fourth week. The second week was a doctor friend of Sara, whose name made her blush every time I mentioned him, and the third week was a basketball coach.
The kids could choose who to spend time with actually shadowing on the job, but they got to visit with each of the mentors during the lectures. With a little of my background, I had an idea of who else would be interesting to tap for mentors. With that in mind, I wrote up a proposal to pitch to possible mentors. By the nights end I had a really good feeling about the program.
Ignoring the thumping and moaning from next door, I ordered in some food when it got late. Ordering in food was the smallest most trivial thing but it was new for me. Back home the most you could order was a pizza or wings.
“In those few paragraphs somehow you let me know that you wanted more than a job. You wanted a chance at life. You wanted to choose something for yourself and you needed it more than you could let on. That is why I have faith in you. Because once upon a time, I left the most beautiful village you might ever see because there was not a shred of myself left in my life. We all need something for ourselves. You want to succeed; you want to prove that you can own something as bad as I did when I took a flight to the US with nothing but hope and some pride. I have faith in you because once, I had to have faith in myself when no one else did.”
“Sara,” Again I swiped at my eyes because now both our eyes were watery, “thank you. For...for the job, for the cottage. Really though, for letting me take a chance, even if I fail. I need a chance to fail, to try things. Thank you. I can’t.... you might be my sweet Irish fairy godmother.” We laughed and she shoved my sushi at me.
“Don’t forget mouthy and inappropriate, Charli. Speaking of, how lovely to look at is your new landlord? If I didn’t love Gwen like a sister, Jesus the things I’d let Deacon do to me!” Then we were laughing, the tears different as she carried on about him and his apparently equally hot son.
Before the end of the day, we were deep into the mentoring program and I knew it was a perfect fit for me. Besides knowing what it was like to want a chance at something, which this program could offer, it was a great way for me to make my mark here. Just like Sara said. If I could create a program with a positive impact on the kids here, it would prove to Sara and myself I made the right choice.
After a midafternoon talk with Deacon, where we talked about furniture and painters, I could not have felt more like I had in fact made the right choice. I could move in within the next week and had his promise it would be all ready to go. I had to promise to drop him some donuts, homemade of course, at his fire house and I was all too glad to throw an apron back on.
Most of my night was spent outlining the program and going over the mentors Sara had lined up for the first week. It was to be an eight-week program but so far we had just five mentors lined up. It was an additional life building program offered to the high school students Sara was so passionate about building futures for.
The mentors each had a week to speak to the kids who signed up, which so far was a good number. During that week they would hold sessions with smaller groups of the kids, to allow more one on one time. There would also be visits to businesses, when positions allowed for it. This would allow chances for the kids to get a feel of what their day-to-day was.
My first task was to fill out the rest of the weeks with mentors, as we were short a few. At the moment, we had two men Deacon had offered; his son Cage would lead the first week and a police officer named Blake Stiles would lead the fourth week. The second week was a doctor friend of Sara, whose name made her blush every time I mentioned him, and the third week was a basketball coach.
The kids could choose who to spend time with actually shadowing on the job, but they got to visit with each of the mentors during the lectures. With a little of my background, I had an idea of who else would be interesting to tap for mentors. With that in mind, I wrote up a proposal to pitch to possible mentors. By the nights end I had a really good feeling about the program.
Ignoring the thumping and moaning from next door, I ordered in some food when it got late. Ordering in food was the smallest most trivial thing but it was new for me. Back home the most you could order was a pizza or wings.
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