Better than Coffee in the Morning

Jessica Pardue, AmeriCorps Mentor at Wright Elementary

Waking up at 7am has always been difficult for me. I arrive at Wright Elementary at 8am every morning to start a busy day of full-time mentoring. Not being a morning person, I may be guilty of being just a bit cranky and lethargic. Pulling out my tutoring box and setting up today’s Sound Partner’s lesson seems to take ten years. If only it would be brighter outside when I get up…if only it wasn’t so cold…grumble grumble grumble. At 8:20am, I go outside with the other three full time mentors to collect our 1st grade tutees. All the first grade classes line up together to be greeted by their teachers and checked in for the day. Sometimes they sing a “good morning” song that starts with “cloudy good morning” or “sunny good morning” depending on the weather.

On one particular morning, I came to pick up Eduardo. As usual, he was hiding behind one of his friends and giggling like mad. I told him it was time to go, and he came trotting out of line. I happened to be wearing eye-makeup that day, (not common for me) and Eduardo looked up at me and asked “Why are your eyeballs so crazy Ms. P?”. Naturally this was a very honest and serious question, but it cracked me up. I explained that I just felt like wearing makeup today and he took a minute to think about it. I asked him if he liked it, and he scrunched up his face and shook his head. “It looks too crazy” he replied. I accepted his opinion and walked to tutoring with a giant grin on my face. Thanks Eduardo, for being so much better than coffee in the morning.