A few weeks pass

The next few weeks go by in a blur, Donnie makes sure to keep attending his poetry lessons with Mrs Powell, the whole affair being not that interesting as they went through the parts of the module while Donnie wrote his coursework for it. Over the weeks they maintain a strict professional relationship as teacher and student, mostly because Mrs Powell was focused on teaching and Donnie didn't really want to be there.

It was a pretty dreary Monday, they were almost done with the module only needing a few more weeks and this week the focus was on poetry of emotion, however Donnie could tell something was up, Mrs Powell didn't have her usual enthusiasm as she read out a poem from a famous female poet about her experiences with motherhood. Donnie couldn't ignore it for any longer and raised his hand, "hey miss are you ok?" Mrs Powell looks at him quizzically "yes of course, why are you asking?" Donnie takes a deep breath as he didn't want to offend her for lacking enthusiasm but if something was genuinely bothering her he deemed it worth asking about "nothing in particular just seem less dynamic than usual miss" he asks nervously.

Mrs Powell sighs, she knew she wasn't her peppy self today and she knew why "yeah I'm fine it's just the topic of the poems today that's all", she says with a reassuring smile, "what's wrong with the topics?" Donnie inquires wondering why topics of motherhood had her feeling down, "well it's not really relevant to your learning" she says deflecting, but Donnie persists "well miss you're helping me with this module, the least I can do is try and help by letting you talk about what's bothering you" he says looking Mrs Powell in the eyes.

Mrs Powell was backed into a corner, she didn't really want to vent to a student because it's unprofessional but he cared enough to notice and ask of his own volition, Mrs Powell eventually relents "Well it's just the topic of motherhood hits me a bit personally" She confesses. "why do you not like being a mother?" Donnie asks, "what no, quite the opposite I love being a mother it's great" she answers honestly, "then why the lack of enthusiasm miss?" Mrs Powell looks conflicted but admits to why this topic had such a profound effect on her, "well it's because I've always wanted a big family, lots of kids to raise you know? Well my husband and I have our son John and we love him but I've always wanted to give him siblings, honestly I always imagined I'd have as many kids as I could. I know we could provide for any additional kids and well I'm 32 years old and I feel like my time is running out". Donnie looks at her with sympathy, "well 32 isn't that old miss" he jokes but then follows it up with actual advice "have you spoke to your husband about this miss, I'm sure if you let him know how much this means to you he would understand"

She felt like she was going insane taking relationship advice from a student but Donnie was right, things wouldn't change unless she stressed how much she wanted this and she owed it to herself to fight for this. Mrs Powell smiles at Donnie for the first time this session "you're right Donnie. Thank you I guess I needed some perspective on this" Donnie smiles back "anytime miss, happy that he was able to help her even if it was the most basic of advice". The two of them continue the rest of their session without issue and as Donnie rides home he thinks about Mrs Powell and what she said and hopes that things would work out for her as she was just a genuinely nice teacher and person.