Well, there’s just no getting around it:
I’m in love.
Ya know those early, giddy days of “can’t get him outta my head” – when little else in the day makes sense and all you want to do is be together, again?
Yep. I’m there.
A little boy in Haiti has stolen my heart.
Well, he’s closer, I suppose, to a young man, since I discovered last week that Markenley will be 16 in December. (He’s nearer the size of a 12 year old.) Like my son, his passion is also football – soccer, actually, but he can’t imagine calling it anything else. For most of the world, soccer IS football.
He dreams of becoming a doctor. It’s tough to tell what kind of student he’ll be, since his schooling thus far has been in a Haitian slum. But, beginning next week, he is enrolled in an academy for English. Because he can’t trek downtown alone, I’m also signing up his uncle, who is eager to learn.
Some of you helped to make that happen and, before Markenley even lifts his pencil, I want to say thank you! We’re not just bystanders in his fascinating story – we are officially mentors, investors, friends…
Family.
That’s how it feels to me. I love Markenley as if he was my second son. I care what happens to him and want to be part of the reason he succeeds.
Though it’s still unclear whether our role in his life will ever extend toward actual adoption, it is incredibly satisfying to have unearthed concrete ways to contribute. Learning English will benefit him and enable us to freely communicate. In the fall, he will also attend a legitimate high school.
He knows he’ll need to be an outstanding student. I hope that, if he truly has a fierce desire to become a physician, he’ll fight to excel. No matter what he wants to achieve, I’m ready to move heaven and earth to help him.
Actually, it seems heaven set the wheels in motion – the rest of us are merely doing our part by saying, “Here I am, Lord. Use me.”
All holiness aside, I gotta tell ya… helping others is like a drug! It feels GREAT!
The only side effect, it seems, is missing the heck outta the one you love…
kim sisto robinson - —Amen, Sister.
I am overflowing with love and happiness for you & your family… and the next great doctor, Markenley!!! xxx
elizabeth - Cheryl- that picture is so beautiful and the happiness pouring out of it is contagious! Thank you for being such a good person and giving us the space to do good and feel that we are part of making a difference in the world. Can’t wait to see Markenley start his practice and change the world. xxx
Charlene Ross - Beautiful Cheryl – just beautiful. All of it – the story, your words to tell it, and that gorgeous picture. You fill my heart with love! (Have I told you lately I think you’re really great?!)