On Monday morning, I felt a tad anxious. Let’s Look had progressed wonderfully over the past three weeks, but for the first time, we would be adding nine students from Cole Elementary into the class. All of the kids selected for the program are fantastic, and we had carefully planned for this day for weeks, but many unknowns still lurked in my mind. How would third-graders react to people with memory loss? Would the older adults find energetic children to be too stressful? Would the children enjoy learning about the Old Masters works? Would our activities engage both young and old?

All of my fears evaporated as soon as the children walked in the door. Each child had been paired with an adult beforehand and had received their picture and a biography, and they excitedly sought out their new friend. As we sat down in the circle, I watched the pairs begin to create bonds with each other, as if each had found a long-lost grandparent or grandchild. Tom brought a little plastic horse for his new buddy, Christina, because he knew she wanted to be a veterinarian. Joe put his arm around his buddy, JoVaughn, as they talked about their favorite foods. Everyone seemed to be taking care of each other and enjoying the experience. If our goal is to create moments of joy, then I think today accomplished just that.