Hang on Loopey, Loopey hang on

Part of my regular routine every Monday and Wednesday was to wait for the Chicken's nanny, Loopey to arrive in the morning.

We hired Loopey after I was forced to change my days off at work. The Chicken was only one at the time and too young for preschool. A nanny was going to be a pretty big expense for us - even though it was only two days a week. But the lesson I learned was that if you think it is the right thing to do for your kid, money is no object.

We went through a nanny agency and interviewed three candidates. Loopey was the only one to have an instant connection with the Chicken. We hired her on the spot.

And for that year, Loopey was great. She was constantly doing more than what she needed to do. We just wanted somebody with the Chicken that would enjoy being with her and keep her stimulated. We got so much more.

We would come home to furniture rearranged and home-made flan in the refrigerator.

The first time I came home to find my laundry done...well...you could have knocked me over with a feather.

On the first Monday after my father died, she was very kind and wanted to know if she could go to the funeral (I gave her directions but she didn't make it).

The next time I saw Loopey, she had something for me. It was two issues of the Watchtower that dealt with death.

I thanked her for them because I knew what her intentions were. She wasn't like the people that come to your door on Sunday. She did it because she cared about us.

Because of that, I'm not going to knock that particular religion here. I read the Watchtowers and was surprised that they were written at about the 3rd grade reading level. I was also surprised that they believe that death is like one big nap. (I'm not joking here).

I kept the Watchertowers around long enough to let Loopey know that I had read them before my Mom actually threw them away.

After a while, the normal routine of waiting for Loopey to arrive resumed.

Until the day Loopey showed up crying.

In her broken English, she told me that she needed to move her family out of Santa Ana. Her oldest was getting into trouble and she felt like the only thing she could do is move them to Portland. She didn't want to leave the Chicken but she felt like this was her only choice.

And today was going to be her last day.

Normally, I don't think that this would have been such a big deal.

But after the loss of my father, I wasn't ready to lose someone that was so important to my child.

I consoled her while in my head I was wondering "What the f are we supposed to do now?"

I left the house and started driving to work. I would email the Commander later to tell her what was going on. I wasn't going to call her about this. I had somebody else to call first.

Number 2 was going to be coming out of retirement to become a nanny.

VW