Are You My Mother?

E and I have worked together three times now.  E is a beginning reader who lives at Hope Ministries here in South Bend.  The first time we met, she greeted me with "I'm irritated."  She felt too busy and had no time for the nap she wanted.  The second time we met she was escorted by her case manager and her stability counselor who put the pressure on for her to meet with me.  She allowed as how she would read with me but none of the phonics stuff.

Today, she came up without her lunch--so I sent her down to get it and told her we could work while she ate.  She didn't object to any phonics exercises or board work.  She happily chose two children's books from the several I had purchased for a grand total of $3 at the Friends of the Library sale.   She did well on one of them; the other was more difficult.  Then she saw Are You My Mother? in the pile and pounced on that one.  She remembered it from her own childhood and was delighted to read it.  She read it with expression.  She made just a few errors-- confusing "saw" and "was" several times and being unable to read more unusual words like "Snort"--the name for the shovel.  As an aside, finding books without white children as the main characters was not easy. Talking animals are fine.

E told me she would be meeting her 4 year old son this afternoon at a neutral visiting location and could read these books to him.  Somehow the irony of their own  separation made the reading so poignant to me. I left her with tears in my eyes.  She thanked me and said "See you next week." I hope she can keep the rules and be invested in the programs and be there next week!  May she also some day be reunited with her son as was the baby bird with his mother.

-------------November 15, 2018  An email from E's case manager:

Thanks for your work with Beth. It does seem that when she met with you, the sessions were positive experiences. However, Beth’s journey with Hope is coming to a close, so you should not plan to come again for her.

Again, thank you!