WHEN YOU'RE NOT SURE HOW TO BE A MENTOR

I have been mentoring for over two years now through the Rogue Valley Youth for Christ mentoring program. 

I have no training in how to be a mentor. 

I have no prior experience in mentoring. 

Nevertheless, I am a mentor.

One of my best resources in learning how to mentor has come through Preston, the eleven-year-old boy who has been my mentee since he was nine.  When I don’t know what to do, I ask Preston for suggestions. 

Like yesterday, for example.

Preston and I pursuing Preston's suggestion.

Preston asked if we could do the “Bean Boozled Challenge” with a video camera rolling to capture the event.  This challenge consists of eating jelly beans that come in two different flavors for each color combination.  One flavor in each color is tasty and one is nasty. 

Really nasty.

The box.

You can’t tell the particular flavor by the appearance of the jelly bean.  You can only tell once you place the jelly bean in your mouth and start chomping your jaws.

I had no idea what I was getting into.  

Now, I do.

The jelly beans cannot be judged by their appearance.  They can only be judged by your tongue.

Here is video proof:

MOTHERS IN MY LIFE

This Mother’s Day I’m thinking about some of the mothers in my life.

Nonny was my mother’s mother.  Nonny was also the perfect grandmother!  Her home was a cherished destination when my brother and sister and I were growing up.  She was genuinely interested in what was going on in our lives.  That caring spirit lasted until all three of us were well into our middle-aged years.  Nonny died in 2002 at age 94.

Nonny ready to take Judy, Dean and me on a trip.

There was a time in my life when I needed help putting on my pajamas.
Nonny provided that help.

My mother was a stay-at-home mom, typical of moms in the 1950’s and 1960’s.  When I pursued long distance running in high school, she always showed up for my meets.  During cross country races, she would run around to various parts of the course to cheer me on.

Mom, Dad, Judy, Dean and me in 1957.

Mom, Dad, Judy, Dean and me in 2002 at Nonny's memorial service.
Mom died about a year later from pancreatic cancer.

My late wife, Barbara, gave me three children during our 16 years together.  She was a fully devoted mother to Bethany, Belinda and Ben.  She died way too soon, in her thirties, after a long battle with cancer.  About a year before her death, she was selected “Brookings-Harbor Mother of the Year” based on a poem that Belinda, then 12, wrote about her.

The five BPs in 1984 (from left to right): Belinda, Barbara, Bruce, Ben and Bethany.

Debra has been by my side for over 14 years, and brought to our marriage my third daughter, Ashley, who was already 12-years-old when she started calling me “Dad”.  Debra’s older daughter Josie, who was already grown and married with her own family when I came along, has provided us with four of our twelve grandchildren.

Debra with Josie in 1978.

Debra with Ashley in 1990.

Three months before marrying Debra and taking Ashley as my third daughter.

Josie, now a mother.

Bethany and Belinda are also mothers now.  

Bethany married Tim for the purpose of providing us with four grandchildren and Belinda married Josh for the purpose of giving us three more. 

Bethany, now a mother.

Belinda, now a mother.

Ben has also provided a grandchild for us, but Ben is not a mother.