Young Man (Carrie)

Reuben with Alondra

February 28 post from Carrie:

You can’t help but smile when you see Rueben who acts well above his age.

When I think of the best behaved and one of the sweetest boys at the Aldea my mind immediately goes to Reuben. This boy is only 11 years old yet he not only willing participates in all our activities but he also provides a calming atmosphere that more often than not rubs off on the other kids. This week I was more aware of the small acts of kindness he does and how wonderful his personality truly is. On Wednesday night all of the volunteers went to House 5 to play monopoly. While we were there Rueben was doing other activities but even though we were being loud and taking up a lot of space, Rueben never once complained. He even had to sit 10 feet away from the TV, when he decided to watch a movie ,with his vision blocked and the sound barely audible. I was amazed at his patience and lack of complaining. On another occasion Rueben had a huge piece of watermelon which he ate a little bit of, gave some to Caesar and also broke off a piece for Llennifer( the girl with special needs from House 9) when she came up and pointed at it. We feel like Rueben acts well above his age in how calming and mature he acts but occasionally, like when we go to the pool, you can see the kid emerge from him that is usually hidden deeper. When we went first went to the pool Rueben didn’t know how to swim and so he’d cling onto the volunteers but he was really interested in learning how to swim and he learns really fast because now he has no fear of jumping in and swimming around in the deep end. We’ve taught him how to do a proper cannonball and he was learning how to dive this week, during both instances when Rueben first emerges from the water he comes out with his arm up, raised above his head, grabbing for the air in an almost triumphant looking pose. All of us volunteers can’t help but smile when we see him, he truly is a young, old, man.