Reflections
“This has been an exercise in
what is kind and good and true in the world.”
~Alan Perkins
When I first met Alan he was quiet and shy, but very thrilled to meet us. He said that he never really gets the chance to be with young people so this to him was meaningful. ... I had always wanted to meet other people who were adopted, so when my teacher told me that I would be meeting a person who had also been adopted, I was overjoyed. I feel like we connected on another level, as he is not married and does not have children or grandchildren. ...
“I remember him telling me about my dad, who is a doctor, and how he saved his life. To me, that meant everything.” ~ Ellen
When the last visit at the Thompson Center came around, I was really sad because I felt like I was leaving a piece of me behind, but luckily we get to stay in touch! Alan is definitely someone who I will remember forever. We even got to write poems together. It was really cool to see how much he remembered about his childhood -playing on the farm with horses and cows. I will take with me and remember forever these visits with Alan - I am really glad we got to do this poetry project together.
“I don’t have grandchildren of my own so this has been a memorable experience.” ~ Alan Perkins
As my class and I walked across the road to the Thomson Senior Center, I was personally thinking this was going to be boring and they were just going to talk about the “interesting things that happened at church.” Then, we got to the center and I looked at what I thought was antique. When we walked into the historic building the door opened and the classical bell above the door rang. As I looked around my suspicions were confirmed and the inside was as outdated as the outside with the fancy dining utensils and the bulky desktops. We were waiting for our teacher to settle while we were in a room that must have been the living room with our soon to be partners.
“I was personally thinking this was going to be boring and they were just going to talk about the ‘interesting things that happened at church.’” ~ Wyatt
I looked around and and noticed my partner was on a couch knitting and I thought, “This is going to be bad.” Over the course of our projectI learned not to judge a book by its cover because boy was I wrong. We separated into groups and started talking - I asked some questions my teacher gave out on piece of paper. Once Jane started talking with us, things got easier for me because she told us unexpected stories about football. It turns out, Jane used to play football in front of the Woodstock town jail where her friends and she had an audience fit for a king. Where the inmates cheered them on as if they were watching the Super Bowl - one floor chose one team and the other picked the other team.
"I want to keep this relationship building next year! I care about him very much." ~ Jane Soule
Walking to The Senior Center in the morning at first felt weird. We were going there to talk and connect with elderly people because Mrs. Brown assigned us to do so. It wasn't a long walk, basically across the street. On the way I was thinking about how the atmosphere might be there - I didn’t think it would be as inviting as it really was. We made it to the center and we walked in, right as we strolled through the door we were greeted in a nice manner. Everyone working there was really nice and it felt really welcoming.
“On the way I was thinking about how the atmosphere might be there - I didn’t think it would be as inviting as it really was.” ~ Gavin
We started off barely even talking about anything. We just kinda sat there and Mrs. Brown would have to come and prompt us on what to do. After we started reading though, we were connecting pretty well. We talked about sports and what teams she likes. I told her about what sports I play and used to play. When we said goodbye to our seniors on the last meeting I wasn't really sure what to feel. As the days go by I realize that they took the time out of their days to talk with us and write poetry. It makes me feel honored that they would do that just for us.