Her tiny, perfect face peered out from the car to take a peek at me. Then, she shyly watched me from her guardian’s side. She shook my hand as we were introduced. Soon, we were seated in a quiet room in her elementary school and she was right beside me … smiling.
My new Little Sister is Amanda. Her pixie haircut accentuates her huge, curious eyes. We met last week and we will start our weekly school-based match this Friday.
Her teacher says she’s shy and her guardian says she loves to be read to. She told me she’d like to try fun things like art and writing with me. We’ll start by working on math and language arts for an hour, once a week.
Amanda can’t be photographed right now, but I hope to share enough with you that you’ll get a nice mental picture of us together.
I’ve sported a smile since I met her – and that can only be a positive thing. It’s a good fit for both of us, I think. We’re both quiet and we both love books. That’s a good foundation to start. We will discover some new things together, I’m sure.
Throughout the process of becoming a Big Sister, I had a lot of questions floating in my head. Before the match I wondered what kind of little person was out there, waiting for a Big Sister. Was she wondering what kind of woman her Big Sister would be? Then, after I heard there was a match, my brain started again: What does she look like? Will she like me? What will we do together? Am I doing the right thing?
Those questions went away … right away … when we met. I was doing the right thing. Her cautious appraisal of me showed me that she doesn’t trust easily, but it also told me she needed someone to be trustworthy. I’ll do my best to be that person for her.
Until next time, Robin