Full circle…

When I was a young mother..

(You know, yesterday.)
(Stop laughing.)

.. of just two – back before the Pup joined us and made our life infinitely more complicated and hectic and also, ya know, perfectly complete – We still went out on a regular basis. We did the things that other parents did, searching for JUST THE RIGHT baby sitter, so that we could go and dance (and drink) and have fun while assured our kids were lovingly taken care of back at home. We used Nana and Papa mostly, but sometimes even they wanted a break from my perfect children.

(…snort. Perfect children. You can laugh there. Really. It’s ok.)

After a lot of searching, we finally found her. She was dating the brother in law of my Manager at KFC at the time. Her name is Nicole, but The Boy called her Nickel from day one, which we all found completely adorable. Except for maybe, Nicole, but ya know blond haired blue eyed little boys get away with an AWFUL LOT! Nickel was young when she started babysitting for us, just 13 or so, but she had a calm presence and a cool head that made it easy to trust her. (That and 15 emergency phone numbers and regular check in calls, but whatever.) She helped potty train the boy, she adored Peppermist and played endless hours of power rangers and barbies, and watched that damn whale movie 18 gazillion times because the Boy was obsessed with Free Willy. (While he was potty training. Coincidence?)

We added the third baby, though we no longer were the wild party animals we once were, and didn’t need the babysitting still. The kids grew, and Nickel grew up (though never grew, she’s a wee tiny thing!) and soon my kids were taller than she is, and she pouted whenever she saw them – seeing the boy drive makes her heart hurt – about as much as realizing he’s twice as tall as she is now, too! She went on to do the normal things – went to school, became a teacher (She got her own classroom this year at the elementary school our kids go to – our poor kids had to learn to say “Mrs. C” instead of “Aunt Nicky”). She always remained close, keeping in touch with my sister and myself, and then she found “the” guy, got married and…

…had a baby.

Now you see where this is going – and how it comes full circle. The other day Peppermist came home all happy and giddy, because she got a new Babysitting job – for Aunt Nicky.

Sometimes living in a small town is TOTALLY worth it.