A Modern-Day Fairytale

ONCE UPON A TIME…there was a family with two full-time working parents and two wonderful little girls. Here is what happened to us 2 weeks ago:

Saturday: Old nanny quits without notice.

Sunday: We experience a range of feelings beginning with panic and ending with rage.

Monday: Daddy stays home from work with the girls. They think it’s Christmas.

Tuesday: I stay home with the girls. They decide to play Drive Mommy Crazy. All day. It’s fun.

Wednesday: Daddy stays home from work. And “manages to clean the entire house and make dinner.” Goody for you dear. We interview a potential nanny. We like her but, in addition to moving in with us, she wants and arm and two legs.

Thursday: I stay home with the girls. Hubby can’t understand how come I couldn’t clean the house and have dinner ready. Oh I could have dear. I just didn’t feel like it. We had much more fun eating popsicles in the pool. We interview 2 more nannies. We really like one of them. Things are looking up.

Friday: Hubby stays home with the girls. Realizes that Wednesday was an anomaly. The house is a mess and we order pizza for dinner. My sister comes to town to help us out with the girls. She rocks. We interview 2 more nannies. Well, only one shows up. We like the one that came. But she can’t start for a month because she wants to give her current family ample notice. What a concept. Oh well, that’s ok. We like the nanny from Thursday.

Saturday morning: The nanny from Friday calls. She wants to know if the position is still available. She told her current family that she had an interview. The dad got upset and put her out of the house (she was a live-in). She needs a job asap. Oh and, in order to maintain her visa, she will have to attend class 2 nights a week. At a college that is 40 minutes away from our house. And she has no car.

Saturday afternoon: We decide that it makes more sense to go with the nanny from Thursday. She’ll watch the girls, cook and clean and she won’t need to live-in because she doesn’t live far away. And she has a car. And can communicate in English. Which, after the week of interviews we just had, apparently are attributes rare in nanny-land.

Saturday evening: We hire the nanny from Thursday. We wish the nanny from Friday good luck. She is staying with her cousin until she finds a new family. I feel better knowing that she is not on the street. I ply myself with sangria. I deserve it.

Sunday: We are so nervous about the new nanny that we can’t sleep. We consider downsizing our home so that we can afford for me to stay at home. We consider moving (again) to be close to family in order to avoid situations just like these.

Monday morning: The new nanny starts. We love her. The girls love her. My sister loves her. The nanny (re)organizes the laundry room and dusts. Everyone is happy.

God answers prayer. But we knew that.

THE END.