I think about pleasant memories, I like to think about what I have learned from Bonnie as an adult.
What I am the most curious about now is her employment with the health system. Her job is to help little ones communicate when there is something that is blocking them from all of the social interaction they would like, or should be getting.
I like to watch Bonnie take out her bag of tools, identify ways they need help, and work on ways she can help their parents to help them.
I like listening to stories about her clients.
She never talks about them.
That would be a violation of their privacy.
But they stop her in the isles of grocery stores for conversations and I can watch her interact with them and with their children who are contained in the wire seats of their mother’s grocery carts, others hiding behind her and holding onto their mothers’ legs, some just standing by, watching Bonnie, waiting for her to say hello to them.
Which she always does.
And which collective memories I treasure.
Arta
What I am the most curious about now is her employment with the health system. Her job is to help little ones communicate when there is something that is blocking them from all of the social interaction they would like, or should be getting.
I like to watch Bonnie take out her bag of tools, identify ways they need help, and work on ways she can help their parents to help them.
I like listening to stories about her clients.
She never talks about them.
That would be a violation of their privacy.
But they stop her in the isles of grocery stores for conversations and I can watch her interact with them and with their children who are contained in the wire seats of their mother’s grocery carts, others hiding behind her and holding onto their mothers’ legs, some just standing by, watching Bonnie, waiting for her to say hello to them.
Which she always does.
And which collective memories I treasure.
Arta
Paris!!!! ah sweet to both think about bonnie's amazing abilities to work around blockages, and also get to think about that wonderful trip to Paris!
ReplyDeleteIt was a grande trip!
DeleteFunny how just seeing your picture there, brought back all of those memories of Paris. Oh, a trip of a lifetime. I don't even have that one listed in my eighty grand memories for eighty years.
DeleteI will never forget that little French B&B, not the walks, nor the tourist sites, nor the gift of a trip with 2 daughters. Totally overwhelming when looking back. We walked our feet off in some of those museums. I think the 3 of us are absolutely art gallery and museum people on trips. No sitting on the sidewalk of a French café and having a rest or a croissant. Must keep moving in case we never get back here. That was our motto.
I have a rich set of my own memories to draw from for my paid work. These memories have at their core an adult interacting with a child, as if that child were a real person. The child getting your full attention as you listened to them, laughed with them, sang with them, or taught them something new. They are memories of you interacting with children - me, my siblings, your nibblings (niece and nephews), your grandchildren, your neighbors children, the entire Bow Valley primary and more. Thank you for that precious gift of showing us all that children matter.
ReplyDeleteYou are right. As well as you, I have always liked talking to children, trying to figure out what they are saying. Usually they will give me a lot of their time. I love looking at their little faces and trying to figure out if I really "get" what they are trying to say.
ReplyDeleteAnd we agree. You are connected to your community in a profound way.
Arta, I hope that while you are busy sharing your memories, you will find the time to make lots of new ones, so that when you are about to turn 85 you will have fresh material to share.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the generous wish, Joaquim -- both that I will live to turn 85 and that I will have lots to share when I do. If this week has been any indicator of the power of the medical world to turn radically in the direction of finding an antidote to the raging virus, -- I am going to stop mid sentence and say that I too expect to find many radical turns along my way to be 85. The medical (and economic) world can change and so can I.
ReplyDeleteWith personal care and good luck, I hope both of us will have lots to say about the next five years.
Thanks for writing these words about Bonnie. I also am in awe of her skills working with children. She's been an important and invaluable resource in my life as a mother.
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome for the words, Mary. I found it hard to pluck one thing out of the air about each person. Did you know that Bonnie bought a guitar and has been taking lessons? And she practises. I think she bought the guitar for her own personal enjoyment.
ReplyDeleteAs well, she signed up for 10 lessons, I think, of metal work. She made a clock for herself and some earrings for me. I would not have predicted that she would take that class.
As well, she does Dungeon and Dragons at the Salmon Arm Library every Friday night. Another place I would not have suggested to find her.
Bonnie.
An enigma.