Old Heads on Young Shoulders -

I don't usually blog about
what's going on in my personal life . . .

because sometimes when people discover you're a writer, they confide weird things to you with the expectation that it is comparable to confiding in a priest, and I don't want to betray people's trust in me by being indiscreet about them, even if inadvertently.

But I do feel that I owe loyal readers some explanation for my lengthy absence from the Blogosphere recently.

Last fall I was called to do a project which I had never even considered before: be a house mother in a group home for young women. House mother??? I was never the stereotypical Leave It To Beaver maternal figure which I would associate with that role.

But one social worker believed I could do it and left me to consider how I would go about performing such a function. After mulling over the prospect, I decided I would adopt a kind of mentoring approach.

Thus, for about the last eight months, I have been supervising and mentoring a group of about a dozen young multicultural women with diverse issues. Some were in recovery from rehab, others had other problems.

Their average stay was supposed to be about three to six months. And the project afforded an unusual opportunity to make a positive difference in some people's lives, which tempted me.

Unfortunately, the woman who headed the social services organization which was operating the project had to shut it down because of a health crisis she experienced. Consequently, the young women were transferred to another organization.

In reflecting on the past several months, I was reminded of Maggie Smith in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie:

"Little girls! I am in the business of putting old heads on young shoulders, and all my pupils are the creme de la creme."

Although that now-defunct Fort Lauderdale group home was probably nothing like the Marcia Blaine School for Girls in Edinburgh, I hope I contributed something positive to my gals' progress and evolution.

And now you know the
explanation for my recent absence.

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