A Letter to My Babysitter

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Hi,

A funny thing happened to me the other day. In the middle of the night, I woke up and started thinking about you. I have no idea why. I haven’t thought of you in over 30 years. As a matter of fact, I only have a very few, vague memories of you.

I know it was before I began school. I must have been about 3 or 4. You would come over every day right before my mom would go to work. I only have one memory of you arriving, even though you took care of me for several months. I heard a knock on the door; mom opened it and you waved at me as you came in while I was watching TV. Your arrival made me happy, I remember that much. I have the vaguest of memories of you and me playing games and laughing. I looked forward to your visits every day. You were very kind to me.

I also remember the last day you took care of me. I only have an image of you talking to my mom about something. I knew it was important but I could not understand what it was. Afterwards, mom told me that you couldn’t take care of me any longer because you had to go to school. I knew what school was but I didn’t want you to go. I wanted you to stay with me. I had these images of a large, cold, sterile building where you were being forced to go day after day. I didn’t want you there. Couldn’t you just not go? Why couldn’t you stay? All this went through my mind in a flash. Then you smiled, waved goodbye, and left. I never saw you again.

Looking back, I can figure that you were in Junior High School and you had to alter your schedule to go to High School. You were pretty young to be a babysitter but you did great!

That’s it. Two vivid memories carried trough the years from the mind of a 4 year old. It is strange how so many strong emotions are tied to those two images. Your entire persona captured through the simple eyes of a child. Happiness. Peace. Contentment. Expectation. Safety. Laughter. Did you ever fathom that you had that effect? I think not. Unfortunately, the next sitter I had was not good at all; that made me miss you even more.

Well, I’m no longer a kid. I grew up, went to college, got myself a career and moved across the country. Along the way I had a few obstacles I had to overcome as I became an adult. I don’t think we would recognize each other nowadays. Much has changed. There are many years and many miles between us.

It would be nice to find you and talk to you. However, the only link I had to you, my mom, is no longer here. She was very, very sick a few years ago. I took care of her until she passed away. I tried to take care of her the best way that I could but her disease had several effects on her behavior that made her hard to deal with. I know that on some level I tried to take care of her as well as you did me. I hope I succeeded.

Now, decades later, I wonder where you are. I don’t even know your name. That makes me sad. I hope you are ok. I hope high school treated you well. That tends to be a trying period in our lives. Do you ever think of the little kid you took care of? Where are you now? Do you have a family? I wish I could tell them how lucky they are to have you taking care of them. Decades later, I know I was.

I guess I just wanted to thank you. Thank you for being you. Thank you for taking care of me. Thank you for everything.

2

Aww, that’s sweet. And you came out of posting hibernation to post that.

I was trying to think of a way that you could find this person again. Are there any old neighbors that you might be able to ask? Or relatives?

It’s nice that you have such a nice memory of her.

3

That was lovely. :slight_smile:

4

That was really nice. It amazing sometimes how some vaugh memories can have such an impact on our lives.

Or maybe a year book from the school she would have attended. I am sure you would recognize her from a picture.

5

You should hook up with Nawth Chucka. S/he is a babysitter looking for a kid. Wild!

6

Heffalump and Roo:

This all happened when we were living in a fourplex, where everyone was renting. No close neighbors to speak of. Family, nah, they wouldn’t know, they wouldn’t even remember. Since mom died, I think I’m the only one that remembers.

SomeUserName:

I thought about that. I don’t trust my memories of her though. I was too long ago for me to clearly remember her appearance. I did check the high schools in the area and their websites don’t have yearbooks from those years. :frowning:

ZipperJJ:

I guess we are all looking for someone!

7

I had a similar babysitter experience as a kid in Jacksonville, Florida. Her name was Gina, and she’d come sit for me now and then. I adored her. In about 1990 I asked my mom what had become of Gina, and Mom said that she was living out in the country and had a couple of kids.

Like ice1000, I’ve lost my mom now too, so I don’t think there’s any way to find out what Gina’s last name was. I’m curious, though.

8

Wow, I just stumbled on this surfing the forums. Crazy.

ice1000, you might talk to your mom’s former co-workers. Maybe they had some emergency contact info if she’d been incapacitated somehow. The last place I worked the HR lady had a list of everyone’s sitters in case she needed to make contact in an emergency.

Is asking your dad not an option?

9

Funny Nawth would find this thread!

Dad also passed away.

Mom worked at a nursing home. HR department was non-existent.
Contacting former co-workers is intriguing. What are the odds that the same nurse’s aide is working in the same place, 30 years hence? If they were near mom’s age, they are most certainly retired (or deceased) by now.
Even so, who would keep emergency contact information that’s 30 years old?

10

There just might be a chance someone will remember a name. You’d be surprised what people store in their head. Who knows, maybe the sitter was a relative of a co-worker?

11

You can always just show up at the high schools and see if you can take a look at a hard copy of a yearbook. I’m sure they have them somewhere.

Missed Connections on Craigslist can be a little sexual at times, but it seems to be a perfectly fine place to look for a long-lost platonic friend.

Also, classmates.com could be a good place to comb through some of the alumni of various area high schools for the year you think she graduated, although I’m not sure how much searching you can do without being a (paying?) member.

12

I am tearing up reading that, what a lovely letter.

I babysat from 8th grade until 10th. 12 years old to 15 years old. In thinking back about the little tykes I had to watch - ages ranging from 14 months to 7 years - I wonder if they’d write me a letter like this today. I doubt I registered as highly as the babysitter in the OP, I didn’t enjoy babysitting - my mother volunteered me to the neighborhood familes.

Lovely, ice