By A Friend | Professional Mentor
Sometimes as a Friend when you are first introduced to your new kindergartner buddy, it is magical. You can feel the relationship starting to bloom and what you hope will be a very long term friendship forming. It didn't exactly go this way for Audrey and me. We hit a lot of road bumps early in our journey together. Audrey is and was mature beyond her years, with knowledge and understanding of the world around her like I would never anticipate from a child her age. Audrey and my first outing together felt a little bit more like I was working with a teenager than a 6 year-old. She was funny, she gave me very specific directions to a restaurant she wanted to go to, and she shared insight into what she perceives of the world around her. Audrey and I had to work hard to build trust in our relationship. It quickly became clear to me that she had been let down by adults in the past and was unsure why I would be any different. Audrey's methods of pushing boundaries and testing my reactions were unmatched. As we went about our weekly trials, I started to slowly but surely learn Audrey's story and in a way I also became a part of it. Audrey and I have found the Zoo to be one of our special places together. We took our first trip to the Oregon Zoo together to learn about different ways adults can work with animals, and it turned into one of the best afternoons of my life. We talked about our families and our passions in the world, we had fifteen minute conversations about what each of us would do with our lives if we were birds or monkeys, and in the end we wrote a list of other things we wanted and needed to do together by the end of the summer. Other, more experienced mentors had told me of these outings; the ones where the kids finally let you in and it forever changes your relationship together. It was nice to finally feel it for us. Unfortunately, a lot of youth we get to work with at Friends of the Children are pushed in one way or another to leave their childhood early; I have seen a lot of that in Audrey. I am confident that she trusts she does not have to be a grown up with me yet. Thanks to patience, time and some resources, Audrey and I have slowly moved away from the testing phase of our friendship and have found a space with each other to relax, play, learn and be ourselves. I am grateful to have gotten to know this smart, funny and truly special little girl. I can't wait for the adventures we will continue to embark upon in our time together, and of course to check off the events on that list.
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