Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Someday
When I was 13, I got a summer job babysitting for the family that lived across the street. They had two little girls, approximately 5 and 7 years old. It was a big responsibility, and clearly the workplace stress was taking its toll:
June 18, 1984
Well this morning I got I got up and prepared myself for another day of babysitting. I feel that the job may be preparing me for what may come in the future. I have many responsibilities as a child and they will continue to grow as I mature. Lately I have been kind of heavy. Emotionally, I mean. I have to lighten up. I am only a kid, I have to live life to the fullest and enjoy! But in the back of my mind I will keep saying: someday, someday...
Wow. For a teenager, I was really into preparation. Or at least the idea of it.
I have no idea what the hell was going on in the back of my mind, but I can tell you that I was a profoundly bad babysitter. One day, the younger girl gave me some back talk so I banished her to her bedroom upstairs. The older, more civilized child and I settled in front of the television to watch The Young and the Restless. The content (affairs, coma, betrayal) was perhaps not well suited to a 7-year-old, but I didn't hear her complaining. What can I say? We were young. We were restless.
Suddenly I heard her sister calling out from her prison cell/bedroom. Hard to make out at first, but it grew louder. "I'm having fun! I'm having FUN! I'm having FUH-HUN!"
The little hooligan was taunting me! I marched my 13-year-old ass up those stairs and opened the bedroom door to find her staging an elaborate barbie ho-down complete with ponies! I did the only thing I could do.
I systematically knocked each and every one of those horses on their plastic rumps. (or is it "hind quarters"? I was never a horsey girl...) Either way, take that, Stacey!
Another day I took the girls to the beach. Not much else to do in a small town on Lake Michigan. There was a lifeguard on duty, so no problem. Pretty sweet gig, actually. I laid back, closed my eyes, caught some rays.
I felt something. A tap on my shoulder. Someone was blocking my sun! I opened my eyes to find Stacey standing there, holding her mother's hand. Without my knowledge or consent, she had taken it upon herself to walk away from the beach and over to her parents hardware store, 3 blocks away.
I know what you're thinking...she is SO fired. Strangely enough, all Stacey's mom did was drop the kid off and head back to work.
It was a different economy. Harder to lose a job back then.
To quote the back of my mind: "Someday...someday..."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment