When Silver Friends Turn Gold

 Make new friends but keep the old

One is silver and the other is gold

When the pandemic first started gaining traction and schools closed, several teacher-librarians gathered together to provide board-wide "office hours". One of these volunteers was a person that I knew about vaguely because of a shared friend (Wendy Kaell) with the same first name. 

Wendy Burch-Jones and I shared some time online together both as part of these office hour shifts as well as via the amazing professional learning she and April deMelo ran in the spring of 2020. I wrote about my admiration for the two of them on my blog, not realizing that there was more in store for the two of us.

That summer, Jennifer Brown and I ran a Summer Academy session for teacher-librarians. We invited April and Wendy to bring their choice board workshop to a broader audience, and they accepted. 

Mentioning Jennifer and Wendy in the same paragraph is fortuitous. Have you ever had the experience of meeting someone and having a hunch that it's the start of a beautiful new friendship? This is what it was like interacting with Jenn (and Melanie Mulcaster) back in 2016 at MakerEdTO and lightning struck again for me in 2020 with Wendy. 

Wendy and I began to seek out opportunities to talk to each other and work together.  She gave me great advice for my first ever keynote and was extremely helpful when I revised the Teacher-Librarianship Additional Qualification courses for Queen's University. I gave Wendy a pep talk before she gave her CBC radio interview (where she was wonderful). Wendy was on the TDSB team of teacher-librarians that I led that updated the board Expected Practice document for TLs. Our latest project was co-authoring an article for ETFO Voice magazine called Losing Libraries. Now that the article has become public, I'm able to share some of the photos taken of the two of us from our photo shoot. (These weren't the ones used in the periodical - big thanks to Christine Cousins for the wonderful work capturing us; I highly recommend having a talented photographer take photos of you and your good friends because it's fun and produces fabulous pictures.) 

So what is it about this person, Wendy Burch-Jones, that has made us nearly instantaneous friends? I don't want to embarrass her, but there are so many great qualities about her.

• passion and compassion 

Wendy gets fired up! If situations are unjust, she feels compelled to say something. She cares about people and wants to take action to make schools, community, and (dare I say) the world a better place.

• energy and curiosity 

Wendy wants to learn more and seeks out answers by constantly reading, taking AQ courses, and having conversations that further her understanding. She is so hard-working and spends many hours after school on projects. 

• considerate and empathetic

During one of our library office sessions, I was almost brought to tears with the way that Wendy spoke to one of our visitors. She knew exactly what to say to demonstrate that she saw and heard the struggles this educator was experiencing and found the perfect words to provide comfort and reassurance. Wendy gave me hand-made Christmas gifts that were personally significant and meaningful.

• fun and funny

Wendy makes me smile. We have a ball together playing Animal Crossing New Horizons (is this post an excuse to share more ACNH snapshots? Only Wendy knows for sure!)

It's hard to believe that I've know Wendy for less than two years, but I look forward to seeing what other mischief the two of us will get involved with in the future. In the meantime, take a peek at some of the latest ACNH builds I've created. ACNH is a hobby Wendy and I share and we can spend a long time visiting each other virtually or discussing our favourite villagers or renovation plans. (I have completed 59 projects as of January 9!)

Nov.30/21 = Mallory's place (didn't load last time)

Dec.24/21 = Benjamin's Rural Retreat

Dec.24/21 = Merry's Art Studio

Dec.24/21 = Deli's Restaurant

Dec.25/21 = Sherb's Playground

Dec.26/21 = Hans' Personal Ski Slope

Dec.27/21 = Coach's Gym

Dec.29/21 = Angus' Lighthouse

Dec.30/21 = Eugene's Place to Talk (Talk Show)

Dec.31/21 = Ursala's Flowery Bowery

Dec.31/21 = Boomer's Steampunk Coffee Café

Jan.1/22 = Reneigh's Fancy Party House

Jan.2/22 = Erik's Mountain Lodge

Jan.3/22 = Queenie's Contrast Courtyard

Jan.4/22 = Murphy's Factory

Jan.5/22 = Freya's Pro Kitchen

Jan.6/22 = Winnie's Yellow House

Jan.7/22 = Hornsby's Police HQ

Jan.9/22 = Pinky's Feng Shui Field

Jan.9/22 = T-Bone's Soul Afire Spa