Its A Jolly Holiday With Mary

Today was a great day to be a nanny. No, really. I'm not being sarcastic. I actually DID have a great day today at work. Most days, I find are so much more rewarding for me than YOU, at the plastics plant...Or YOU, over there in retail for the holiday season...Or that guy over there selling bus tickets. How boring. Some may think its easy, my job. But you get into a lot of shit, literally speaking as well. But I think I was born to be with newborns (and toddlers, and so on.) And I think fate stepped in when my boss came into my life.

Afterall, she let me borrow all this lovely jewelry and mink wrap:(But the red eye was all mine...and the dress: $17.99!):

Although my jobs (nor my boss') weren't always so great. It all started back in '96...There I was, fresh out of high school and looking for a job with meaning, a job where I would be making a difference...At least a job where I didn't have to make ice cream cones for old, horny truck drivers at the Pilot Truck Stop where the favorite pick up line was "When do you 'get off'?". Yes, I was tired of Dairy Queen, food service, even tired of GASP ice cream. Luckily, I had an excuse to quit...I had caught poison oak.

So there I was, looking through the paper, thinking I'd be great at jobs that made people happy: nurse, chiropractor, hairdresser. I was so excited to find a job as a massage therapist.

"Mom, I know. I'll do massage. This ad says 'No experience required. Pay is great. Start today'!"

"Where is it?"

"Some place called the Satin Health Spa?"

"NO!"

My first attempt at the job of my dreams: daycare. Now, I am not speaking of all daycares or even all YMCA daycares, but this particular YMCA daycare that I worked in, I could only stand for 2 months. It was less like a place to leave your child for any given amount of time and more like a place to punish your rapist's spawn. I will not go into much detail but the straw that broke the sadist's back was after a week of a little boy being punished in the form of being between a wall and two wrestler's mats all day, EVERY day, I was out of there. The parents weren't that much better than the group supervisors and it was all bad.

Its was the end of summer by this time and I decided maybe something seasonal would help the cash flow until I could find something permanent. I won over the owners of a local fruit market that catered to the Halloween crowd. I was officially a tour guide to all the students that came in for their field trips. I led them through the corn maze and Disney character set ups made out of pumpkins and straw. At the end, we all had cookies and apple cider. I amazed the kids with my bee charming ways, since, by the last tour, my hands were covered in cider and bees. I was never stung once. They just crawled all over me. (For those of you that don't know this about me, I try and let all the insects and bugs in my house out on paper rather than swatting them with it.)

It was a few weeks before Halloween and I knew my job would end soon, so back to the search in the paper. It was like playing Sims. I found an ad for a nanny, written short and simply: "We got a kid-you have two arms, HELP!" or something like that. I was feeling gutsy and called after work one evening. I remember it was a little late because I apologized for the inconvienent hour. She laughed and told me compared to some calls, this was no where near an inconvienent hour. SCORE! I interviewed a few days later. Mary answered the door. She was a tall, curly haired brunette, wearing a ponytail on her head and a sweatshirt and leggings on her body. Right away, she was warm and friendly, even a bit excited which put me to ease right away because my mother's personality was so similar. She explained she and her new husband were both local attorneys and they just had their daughter, Payton, a little more than 6 weeks prior. The conversation sailed smoothly. Its so funny to think back to this time because, although I had just met her, Mary was as genuine back then as she was throwing clothes and jewelry at me for my fancy ball last weekend. I remember telling her one of the most important things I thought a child needed was a book. She asked about my schooling and what I did for extra curriculars (I was in performing arts). I also remember sharing I wouldn't mind being observed or being on video if it eased their minds, and I realized how difficult it must be to decide who would care for their tiny baby. After a little while, I couldn't stand it anymore. I had to meet the little chick! She was upstairs with Mary's mother, being rocked and adored. I remember just how small Payton was, all bundled in her blanket, rocking in her dimly lit room. Although it's been over 9 years, it still seems like yesterday. I remember how much I just wanted to scoop her up, but didn't dare ruin the beautiful moment between she and her grandmother. I walked out feeling lucky to have met Mary, but really didn't think I would get a second interview with just a high school degree barely under my belt. I was sure she had interviewed so many more qualified, experienced and educated men and women. (A few months down the road, Mary shared with me that the ad was their absolute last attempt to find someone they could trust. They tried agencies, word of mouth, even throwing around the idea that Payton would probably end up being cared for by her mother since they hadn't had much luck.) She let me know with a phone call a few days later that they were debating between myself and another woman and that I'd know as soon as they decided. Then she couldn't contain her excitement by telling me she'd pretty much made up her mind.

Through the years, Mary and I have sustained a longer relationship together than we have with our ex-husband's. We call each other "wife" and there aren't too many people I'm closer to than "Mare". She's not only an amazing female role model for Britain, but truly one of the most influential females in my life. There are not even enough words to ever thank her for all she's ever done, but hopefully I remind her enough just how much she means to me. Its almost laughable to call her my boss. Even "friend" doesn't suffice.