Story Weekend: Mentors
Do you have a mentor? Do you wish you did? Who would you choose? Or perhaps you’re a mentor yourself? Tell us a your mentor story. Thank you, reader Dana Crano for suggesting this weekend’s theme.
If you’re new to Story Weekend, here’s how it works: I pick a theme and you share something from your life that relates to that theme, however you interpret it. Thanks to all of you who’ve contributed. As always, there are a few “rules”:
▪ The story must be true
▪ Try to keep it under 100 words. Embrace the challenge! That’s about six or seven lines in the comment form. I want others to read your story, and most people tend to skip if it’s too long. I know how tough it is to “write tight” but I hope you’ll accept this as a challenge. Happy writing!
I don’t have a mentor, I have a spiritual director. That may sound funny but when my (fifth in a row) spiritual director bugged out on me (I was getting a complex), I asked a writer who is famous for her non-fiction writing to be my spiritual director and to my surprise the answer was yes. My fiction generally (not always) has a faith component and our discussions ground me in my faith both my spiritual faith and the faith in myself that one of these days one of my books will be THE BOOK. ‘Till then she is a wonderful companion on my journey.
Wow, those spiritual directors who “bugged out” were meant to do exactly that, I think. I’m glad for you that you found the right one.
My mentor was a friend of my mother’s – Jill. Jill was a social worker, later a lawyer and I began by babysitting her 2 kids. She later got me my first jib as a child care worker -an unreal job for a 15 year old. She believed in me and taught me I could do anything if I set my mind to it. We stayed friends as adults and she was my m/c at my wedding. 32 years later when my husband left me and wanted us to just do the separation document ourself she said “hell no”. She would find me help. The next week she was hit by a bus and fought hard for 2 months. The hardest for me was she died not of the actual bus injuries but of rheumatoid lung. She had finally been diagnosed as having ra the month before she was hit. The doctor’s had figured it was fibro. RIP Jill. The things you taught me made me the woman I am today.
Sorry. Little long this time.
Understandably, Kelly. I’m sorry you lost her, but glad you had her.
We are not really very ‘big’ on mentoring in the UK but:
When my daughter was at college there was a friend in her Biology group who was struggling. The teacher had written him off as not being worth her effort because he wasn’t going to achieve anything. Naomi was furious that they wouldn’t take the time with him so she took it upon herself to help him and hopefully prove them wrong. In the end he did get a pass but by this time he had lost faith in the college but thanks to Naomi’s help and encouragement he did enrol at a different college and was doing very well with support from his family fellow students and teachers. Unfortunately he died in a freak accident when he was 18 but we are all really thankful that he knew he was capable of achieving great things in his life it would have been even sadder if he had died thinking he was a ‘no hoper’. As a footnote I would like to add that people tag todays teenagers as being selfish and uncaring but Kyle has a memorial and a Facebook RIP page there are always flowers and cards on his grave and comments on his site daily 5 years after his death 🙂
My mentor and inspiration early in life was my 9th grade English teacher. At a time when transitions were occurring in all aspects of my life, she recognized in me a keen love of poetry, literature, and writing. She encouraged me in front of others, used my work as examples in other classes, wrote thought-provoking and encouraging notes, and helped me enter my poetry in national contests. She celebrated with me when my poetry was accepted, and prodded me to do better when it was rejected. She encouraged me to work as junior editor on the school newspaper & yearbook . I ran into her several years ago in my job as marketing and pr director at a hospital and I told her what she had meant to me. We both cried. She is an stellar example of how teachers do make a huge difference in the lives of their students.
I’m so glad you had the chance to tell her, Debbie.
I think Naomi gave a gift to herself as well as Kyle when she helped him, Jill.