The commercial about the mother who attaches her child’s dresser to the wall so that it does not fall over speaks to me. It got me to thinking about the children I used to babysit for.

When I first started working for my mother’s boss there was only one little girl. She and I got along very well. I began by going to her house and taking her out for a walk. That gave us a chance to get acquainted before I had to stay with her while her parents went out.

Often, I stayed overnight because that way they did not have to take me home late at night. I just took my church clothes along so I could be ready when my mom picked me up.

Of course, that meant that I was there for breakfast. The mom told me the girl would not eat eggs, but when I fixed them she ate them. I am not sure what I did differently but it worked.

Usually Linda was just getting up from her nap when I arrived. I dressed her and we were on our way. We walked all over the place. Sometimes we stopped for a popsicle. That she really liked.

It was not long until there was a baby sister. Once the baby came along we still went for walks. Sometimes I took Betsy but sometimes it was just Linda and I. She really liked getting that extra attention.

One day when I arrived my day went different than I expected it to. I ended up staying with the baby while the mother took Linda to the emergency room. She had used the drawers in her dresser to climb and tipped the dresser over on herself. Thank goodness, she was not seriously hurt. I was also thankful that she chose to do that when it was not on my watch. Unfortunately, that was not the only accident that involved Linda. One day when I arrived it was another trip to the emergency room because Linda had chewed the tips off of a package of matches. That time she ended up getting her stomach pumped.

Before I finished my babysitting duties for that family a little baby boy arrived. Robert was so cute. When I babysat at nigh sometimes I just had to feed him and put him to bed. He was so cuddly that it was fun. Robert had some foot issues so he wore some special shoes that had to go on at bedtime. That was always a struggle to get them in place.

Another day when I went to take the children out we ended up not going out at all because the two little girls were both covered with petroleum jelly and needed to be scrubbed. In fact there room needed to be scrubbed. I think I worked on the children while Diane tended to the room.

When the family went on a trip they asked my mother if I could babysit for them. My mother told them she thought I was a bit young to have the responsibility of three children 24/7 so they hired a nurse. I was to go over each day and take the children outside to play.

They did not like the nurse and played many tricks on her. One day I found her walking around in her nurses’ shoes without any laces. The children had snuck out of bed and stole her shoe laces while she slept. I made them find the shoe laces before I took them out. I think just maybe it was Linda who was the ringleader. I am really glad that she and I got along so well.

My babysitting experiences certainly prepared me for motherhood. I am pleased to relate that never of those experiences I had while babysitting ever came up during motherhood.

This was as far as I got on my piece for this week when I had a bad fall at church. I am now recuperating at home and healing, but I am extremely sore. Getting up out of the chair is a real chore. Thankfully all I have are many scrapes and scratches. The folks at Warren General emergency room took very good care of me. I was the mystery of the day because they could to determine what was going on. I had every test in the book I think.

A big thank you to the kind nurses and people who drew blood who did such a good job. Because I went in with chest pain I was immediately attended to. I am not really sure if the pain in my chest caused my fall, but it might have. They referred me to my primary care physician for a visit on Monday and more blood work.

I had a whole afternoon with my children and that was nice in spite of everything.

I do know that I was lucky to have no broken bones! The bruises will heal and I will be good as new.

Ann Swanson writes from her home in Russell, PA. Contact at hickoryheights1@verizon.net