When I woke up this morning, I did not think today would be an important or special one. But it ended up being one of the best days in a while, thanks to some subtlety beautiful moments that came out of humans impacting the lives of other humans.
One of my best friends, Eric Eyerman, is leaving Chicago for grad school in Boulder, and today was his last day as Camp Director at Lakeshore. One of the counselors, who had been shooting footage all summer to make an advertisement for the camp, surprised Eric and the other camp staff with a goodbye video that featured clips from the past few months: kids reading alongside adults, dancing at the beach, playing sports, and lots of shots of Eric smiling. And it was set to acoustic guitar so it was extra touching. It was so wonderful to see people being good to other people; that video was just to say "We want to honor you and give you something to remember us." Beautiful.
It's been almost a year since I began mentoring Tiara, a high school student from Chicago Tech Academy. She's recently earned one of the much sought-after spots at Genesys Works, a program that connects inner-city youth with internship opportunities at some of Chicago's biggest companies. She's been honing her IT skills all summer and is now interviewing for her internship placement. She didn't have a suit coat for the meeting and asked if she could borrow one from me. I have one that's a little too small for me so I brought it into work for her to borrow. Of course, I made her try on the suit coat BECAUSE I'M A MOM. She looked so professional in it. I felt so proud of the little grown up in front of me that's working so hard to create a great life for herself.
I've been teaching an improv class for kids on the Asbergers-Autism spectrum for about 2 years. This session's class we tried something new: on the final day, the parents were invited to join us for a show and the chance to join in on some of the games. It was so much fun and the kids were great. This was especially good because... I didn't know what to expect. Even having ONE new person can sometimes send the group into a tailspin of excitement and/or apprehension. In this case, we had 7 unfamiliar faces! There was a part of me that was worried they'd all freak, refuse to participate, and the parents would be like, "I've been paying money for my kid to do this???"
One mom got misty-eyed on the way out. Seeing her son in the group made her realize how much progress he's made this summer. And another parent said how comforting it was to see that his child wasn't "the kid misbehaving in class". In our group, they're all in the same boat. No one's "the weird kid". And the best part was that the parents got to be silly alongside their kids, something I get the impression they don't get to do too often.
And because the kids tend to rush out so quickly after class, I never really know if I'm making a difference. I know they get to have fun and logically, I know that makes a difference. But it wasn't until today when I got to see the parents reactions that made it feel really rewarding.
Sometimes I worry that I'm spinning my wheels and not fulfilling my purpose in life. But this totally normal, average day that wasn't supposed to be special was a great affirmation that I'm living life to the fullest. I get to help others and in turn, be helped by them. All is well.
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