After Wilborn's grandmother moved back to Austin while the girl was in fifth grade Mundy decided that the official mentor designation was too restrictive. For example, she was limited to visiting only during school hours and on school grounds. So she chose to take a more active role in Wilborn's life.
Mundy began to take Wilborn shopping, to amusement parks and ball games, and out to eat. "I took her out to eat a lot because she never had that opportunity before," says Mundy. "Her family just didn't have the money. I'll never forget taking her to a restaurant. She had never had fajitas, which is unheard of for a fourteen-year-old Texan. When those fajitas came out sizzling in front of us, her eyes just got huge. It was such a simple pleasure for me to watch her experience something new that most of us take for granted."
Mundy opened up Wilborn's life in more meaningful ways too. She not only encouraged her to stay in school as a teen, but also helped her study and earn grades that would get her into college. She showed Wilborn, who had never been out of Texas, that she could go anywhere she liked-and even helped her fill out the college applications and loan and grant documents.
Now, when Wilborn visits Austin she stays at the Mundy home and babysits for Mundy's two children. She calls Mundy "Mama-Shell" (instead of her first name Michelle). "By the time I was in eighth grade she had taken the role of my mom," says Wilborn. "The mentor thing stopped. She became my mom. I needed school supplies, they were there; money for school clothes, it was there. If field trips came up I didn't have to worry about how I'd pay for them. She made sure I attended-if my grades were good. She made sure that I was in band and in basketball and active in school. It was awesome. When I introduce her to friends I say, 'This is my mom.' " Without Mundy, says Wilborn, "I'd probably be back in Austin doing nothing. I'd probably be a bum."
Yet this has been a two-way street. Mundy says that Wilborn's response to her efforts has given her confidence in her ability to be a good mother. She values the exposure her own children have had to a child born with less. It has kept them grounded and forced Mundy to answer some tough questions about life and fairness and materialism. "Our relationship shook me out of my little bubble world," says Mundy. "I can't imagine my life without her. She exposed me to things outside my world and opened my eyes; she put things in perspective for me. I have learned that no matter how bad a situation is you can always see the good in it.
She does. Little things in my world that I used to see as a big problem I now see much differently."
Do You Have What It Takes?
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