Friends forever

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/06/2016 (2859 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Maria Mitousis had much more to say during our hours together Friday than I had space to report in Saturday’s Free Press.

She alluded to the psychological therapy she is receiving after opening a package containing a bomb, allegedly sent by the husband of a woman she represented.

She talked about the fleeting feeling she was to blame in some way.

She said she hopes to get her driver’s licence back soon and to drive again in a different way as a golfer with a handicap they don’t include on a scorecard.

She referenced something important about the fundraising campaign set up for her by friends. No, the important thing she spoke of wasn’t the $96,000 raised — although that was vital in bridging the financial gap of unemployment for the past year. Rather, it was the names of men who were listed among the donors that suggested something important. They were the husbands of wives Mitousis had represented.

Mitousis said since being injured July 3, 2015, she has spent the time healing, both physically and emotionally.

“I think I’ve just been given some time just be to with me for a while,” Mitousis said.

There is something else she has been given time for, something alluded to in Saturday’s column, but without the background that went with it. Mitousis was given an opportunity to develop a special relationship with a class of grades 3 and 4 students from Beaverlodge School in Charleswood.

The relationship began when their teacher, Barb Thiessen, shared the story with her students during a curriculum add-on known as the Virtues Project. It’s centred on teaching empathy. It uses a deck of 52 cards representing 52 virtues — one for every week of the year — to be turned over and discovered.

When we spoke Monday, Thiessen recalled introducing Mitousis and her story after discussing the virtues Terry Fox demonstrated.

“Bravery, persistence and strength. And we were equating that with Maria.”

Letters from the children were sent to Mitousis around Thanksgiving, months after she lost her right hand and the lower part of the same arm; and just before another surgery.

“She was at such a low point,” Thiessen said. “Then all the letters showed up. And there’s nothing like the innocence and sincerity of children.”

It was March, just as Mitousis was turning 39 and beginning to feel better, when she visited the students.

She arrived at the school with packages of stickers for each child and an Easter plant for Thiessen. But, in the teacher’s opinion, it was the gift of Mitousis simply being there that meant the most.

“She’s showing the kids how important they are to her.”

Thiessen recalled Mitousis being concerned about the kids seeing her right arm, which no longer had a bandage ­— but they weren’t shocked.

Mitousis remembered some children simply wanting to touch her arm. None of them asked what had happened. They wanted to know what she did in her spare time and whether she spoke another language.

“They see her as the person,” Thiessen said. “Not the injury. What they see in her is the kindness.”

Later, Thiessen sent Mitousis a framed photo of the class, with all the virtues the children learned from Mitousis written in the space around the picture.

“I have the picture proudly on display in my office,” Mitousis told them in a thank-you letter. “So many people ask me about it, and I take great pleasure sharing with them how lucky I am to have not one, not two, not three — a whole classroom of new friends.”

Which is the way she signed her letter to the class: “Your friend, Maria”

“And they all believe they are her friend,” Thiessen said.

Mitousis visited again last week.

During the daily assembly, by way of introducing her, five kids from the class were tasked with selecting two relevant virtue cards.

One student surprised the teacher with the choice of a virtue Mitousis had demonstrated to that little girl.

Emily had chosen the “reliability” card.

“I’m sure Maria demonstrates that virtue,” Thiessen said, “but there are probably others that are more obvious.”

“No,” Emily insisted.

Then she explained.

“We show reliability to Maria,” Emily said, “because we will always be there for her.”

gordon.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca