My non-biological first born children
This tall boy in the yellow shirt is my non-biological first born.
I met Alex when he was about the size of Maggie, seen to the right of Alex. He was a beautiful and active preschool fellow. He was/is smart and knows it. This led to the occasional confrontation, but, being the wise, practically- perfect- in -every -Mary Poppins -way nanny, I was always able to give him a logical and stimulating reason for why we were doing things :
"BECAUSE I SAID SO!"
I promise his parents were aware that I used that line. In fact, if I remember correctly, they endorsed it.
Alex is now a man. I recently drove my three biological children across the state of Ohio to visit my non-biological first born on the occasion of his graduation party. Here I am in my early 30s and my non-biological firstborn had the audacity to grow up and graduate high school. He'll be returning "home" to Pittsburgh at CMU. I am way too young of a mom to have a child in college. The sad part of this story is that my parents were not much older than I am now when they took me, their firstborn, to college. As someone in my early to mid thirties - I can't imagine being my age and taking my child to college. Some days it seems as if I just finished college myself! That is ridiculous!
Drew was the size of my third born biological child (seen below in a series of shots of Will attempting to slide down the bridge on the min-golf course) when I first met him. I met Alex and Drew at the daycare Center I had just been hired at my sophomore year of college. I had originally signed on to this agency to do nanny jobs, but they had asked if I would be interested in keeping some hours at the daycare, and since I wanted extra money, I said "Sure!" I remember seeing Drew in Miss Jackie's toddler room the first day. Something about him just drew (no pun intended) me to him. He was so very shy - really didn't want to have anything to do with me. I wheedled, cajoled and bribed him with endless rounds of "The Wheels on the Bus" and the "Barney" theme song to like me. He was just so adorable that I had to be around him. It probably sounds weird, but looking back now, I know that God's hand was in this attraction to him. God had a plan for these magnificent boys to be in my life and He led me right to them.
My life was changed entirely by my fondness of this boy - and by his family which unofficially welcomed me into their family - much to the dismay of the father : )
I cannot begin to explain the difference these boys made in my life and how much I grew to love them and their family. I am so privileged to have been a part of their lives.
Now my children have been blessed with getting to know them a bit by our visits with them. I know I have grown apart from Drew & Alex. I'm not a part of their every day life anymore like I once was - which is to be expected. I at least know that they still think of me fondly - andthat my love for them is reciprocated - at least that's my interpretation based on the extra tight squeezes I get when I hug these boys - I mean men - goodbye.
Now my children have been blessed with getting to know them a bit by our visits with them. I know I have grown apart from Drew & Alex. I'm not a part of their every day life anymore like I once was - which is to be expected. I at least know that they still think of me fondly - andthat my love for them is reciprocated - at least that's my interpretation based on the extra tight squeezes I get when I hug these boys - I mean men - goodbye.