BBBSSEPA

By Laura S., Big Sister, University of Pennsylvania, Class of 2008

Last Friday was my first time meeting with my Little Sister, Brianna since April. I was so excited to go back to the Caring People Alliance (CPA) and hang out with her, especially since she had emailed me saying that Friday was her birthday! However, I was also pretty nervous. Five months is a long time for a ten year old! What if she forgot what I looked like or didn’t really care that I was coming to see her? We had emailed a few times over the summer, but there’s always that chance that she had changed or I had changed, and we would no longer be a good match. Fortunately this was not the case! As soon as I walked into the Big Brothers Big Sisters room, I heard a very loud, “Laura!!!!!,” from across the room. Brianna sprinted towards me and gave me a huge hug.

We instantly started talking about our summers, how our school years are going, and just basically catching up. I had really missed her and BBBS in general. I had forgotten how much fun it is to play like a little kid for an hour. I had forgotten how good it makes me feel when Brianna smiles. I had forgotten how wonderful of a little girl Brianna is. In the first few minutes that I was back at CPA, I remembered all of those things and why I love going to see her each week.

I had brought Brianna a few small presents for her birthday and made her a card, which she loved! She kept asking her friends if they had seen what I had brought for her, and she just walked around with a huge smile on her face. To see her so happy was just an awesome experience. For the rest of the hour, we played with this weird foam made up of tiny dots that you can mold into any shape you want. I really wish that foam existed when I was little – it was so cool to play with! Brianna and I both love arts and crafts, so the hour just flew by as we goofed around making funny objects out of the foam.

All in all, it was a great day, and I am so glad that the program has started up again!