Still Babysitting
Episode 1: I get the kids into the car. We’re going to breakfast. The oldest is having trouble buckling her seat belt. No one rides in my back seat. I had no idea the back left seat belt won’t latch. I decide to switch locations of the car seat for the youngest and the booster seat for the oldest. I had no idea that today’s car seats are engineered to be attached with the mechanical equivalent of super glue. I struggle. I remind myself I’m college educated and ran my own company. I put the kids in the front seat. They touch everything. I get it done. There is sweat.
Episode 2: We get ready to drive to the park. Tired kids are good kids, usually. That’s not the story. The youngest gets into the car. I come around to see that he’s tied in. He hands me a small umbrella someone opened. Not important who. I close it. I realize I didn’t lock the front door. Run back inside. Lock the door. Come back out. Get in car. Can’t find car keys. A full search is mounted. Kids are removed from car and help with search. Old habits kick in. I think one of the kids hid them. Weird. I go back to check car one more time. Keys are on the roof where I put them while closing the umbrella. We go to park.
They are now asleep. I learn that the oldest does not sleep with her bedside lamp on, as she claimed the night before. Remember the park? Tired kids might fuss a bit about getting ready for bed, but once in bed, reading a book, they do what all of us do. They get groggy. No one wanks or moans when I come in to say good night. Hugs all around. Kisses on foreheads. Everyone gets tucked in. Rooms are dark. It’s just me in my cap with the dog asleep at the end of the couch. Again, I write this at night to automatically post in the morning. Why? Because I want to see them coming. They’re cute, and we might jump rope.
John W. Wilson is the author of The Long Goodbye: A Caregiver’s Tale