Said with a straight serious face and with hardly a pause, looked down at the worksheet  shared the thoughts scribbled out.

This past summer I found a kids mentor/volunteer organization that is giving back to the youth in our communities.  I was intrigued and wanted to be part of giving back.

l filled in the online volunteer form, not once , not twice, but three times before I clicked submit. Was I capable? Would the kids treat me like that poor supply teacher I had in grade 7? Would I be leaving each mentor session in a heap of tears?

Bravery it turns out isn’t the absence of fear but rather taking action despite the fear.

And that is how I ended up, armed with one binder of material, once a week in a front of a classroom of 10 grade 7 and 8 students.

The first day was easy, only 6 kids, all as nervous as me. The second, as I was warned by the school consellor, would be a “different dynamic with all 10 kids.”

And so it was and in the middle of a 15 minute sharing session, assuming l had connected with the kids, I made a sarcastic comment to which I was promptly corrected,

“If you want to talk to me, l don’t do sarcastic.”

It took everything in me not to laugh at myself, at the situation, at the directness.