It Takes a Village

Final breakfast

The boys got up early this morning for breakfast with the ski coaches and Madison. I drove them over at 7:30am. Hosting kids is a group effort.

Yes, you've got the guy at home doing laundry, making meals, listening to stories, checking on Internet usage and bedtimes and wake-ups "CONNIE WILL BE HERE IN 10 MINUTES," cleaning messes or guiding the cleaning of messes, checking up on homework, driving here and there and back again, shopping shopping shopping for food, guiding behavior according to your rules, talking with teachers and coaches and parents and coordinators and kids, adapting to kids' quirks and needs and demands, putting on birthdays and Xmas and whatever gatherings, laughing at the crazy stuff over dinner, dealing with moods, asking a kid to get a hair cut or to wear deodorant or to brush their teeth, worrying when your kid gets into some other kid's car to travel somewhere, welcoming natural parents, being lied to, checking with friends' parents when your kid spends an overnight in another home, and caring so much that it hurts... Sound familiar? It's parenting, plain and simple. But you know what? It's not simple at all because they're not your kids and that's a huge obligation. And that's why it takes a village.

The boys' village...

Connie & Ben and the boys

Connie and Ben opened their home and family and lives to two strangers, two teenagers! They fed and housed the boys. Connie showed up every single morning to drive the kids to school... 35 minutes after the school-bus went by our home. Lucky boys. Very lucky...

The Papianou's offered the kids special opportunities through the high school Outing Club, paid extra attention to them, and loaned the boys ski equipment when the stuff I had salvaged over the years faltered. These special people make a difference in lives and were extra special to Sebino and Guido... And then there's Abbey.

Lots of people help with The Foreigns, and most especially our local Greenheart coordinator, Abbey Rice. In her first year at this work, Abbey put on parties, checked in, counseled, followed up, served the best chocolate chip cookies on Planet Earth, kept finding out this information and that rule, shared her family and home and time, emailed endless informational notes, offered rides, and served as a back-up, back-up host. And then COVID-19 shows up and "her kids" simply vanish. Tough way to end. But I hope she knows the difference she made in our kids' lives

Without question, hosting international students takes a village.