Last week during my visit to BJM, I spent my afternoon coloring in the Arts room. I had a pretty rough week with a jam-packed Tuesday and so spending the hour chatting and playing with the kids was absolutely wonderful. I had just drunk a warm cup of coffee from the Starbucks on Seneca and the pretty Christmas cup (empty by now) that I had with me was almost immediately decorated with colorful stickers by the sweet girls I was sitting with. I, of course, could no longer throw it away!

I started coloring with one of my favorite little girls, who has the liveliest personality and says the funniest little things. She’s quite talented at drawing and for the most part I was just sitting next to her and supervising as all of the girls drew. After a while, she told me I should start drawing as well and I asked what she would like me to do– so she drew me what I thought was a random creation of lines and shapes, though she assured me that  it was a mouse. I began coloring the mouse in, but every time I used a certain color to fill in a certain part, she urged me to use a different color and would hand it to me. I would just smile and do as she said for it was quite the fun following her instructions. Finally, our curious creation was covered by every color in the rainbow– Mr. Rainbow Mouse we named him. At this point we were both laughing and filling in the picture with curious details, such as a top hat and a suitcase. She began teasing by saying that she would fix the picture and then drew a line through it. I, of course, played along and repeatedly kept pulling the picture away as she made attempt after attempt at covering him with scribbles. Alas, my efforts were to no avail for Mr. Rainbow Mouse met his doom at the end of a red and black marker.

As the semester comes to an end and weeks become busier as finals come around, it’s always nice to have a safe and cozy place full of friendship and laughter to turn to. Every visit at BJM is a unique experience and every afternoon is a gift. The lovely souls, every single one, at BJM teach me something every time I see them, they bring me joy, and they encourage me. I am forever grateful to them.