I Feel Like. . .

. . .peanut butter without the jam. . .macaroni with no cheese. . .Abbott sans Costello. . .

This past summer, I began participating in a community-organized mentoring program. I took my job as mentor very seriously -- meeting with the parent and the child at her home before we were officially partnered; talking with the Program Coordinator; asking people who know me very well whether they thought I could be a mentor; setting up a regular schedule for our meetings. I even had to be fingerprinted.

Everything was going great for several months. We went to the movies, cooked, played video games, and went to the library. As part of the program, we did even more fun stuff, like hiking, visiting the Aquarium of the Pacific, and attending an Angels baseball game. I was having a great time and so was mini-me (that's what I called my mentee). Then CRASH!! Things stopped going so great -- mini-me started missing our scheduled "dates" and the parent wouldn't call me.

On at least half-dozen ocassions, I attempted to speak with the parent. I thought maybe we needed to adjust our schedule and pick a more convenient time for our activities. Finally, after getting no response, I had to speak to the Program Coordinator. He made several attempts with the same results -- no response.

So, now I'm a mentor with no mini-me. I'm sad.