I Growed 'Em Right

I just returned from a middle school graduation followed by dinner. This was my second middle school graduation of the second child of the family for whom I was a nanny of sorts. This is the only nanny family I am in contact with and the children who started out at 1 and 3 years-old respectively are now 14 and 16. The graduate had to run off to her party, wearing her short red supermodel dress with three-inch heels which were hurting her freshly manicured feet. Her mother was taking her and so I went off to dinner with the men. She won an award for excellence in P.E. which she deserves as she is quite an athlete and apparently very inclusive and helpful in class. Her brother was a bit jealous and was taken by surprise by the award. Isn't that true of all brothers?? ;)

Our dinner conversation went into politics, the state of the world, energy (dad was/is an energy scientist), and settled down a bit in environmental education. Much of this was driven by my former charge who is a very opinionated and "well-informed" (his words) "nerd" (also his words). He was quite pleased with himself and his conversational poise. I will admit that I was also. I grew him. And he has turned out like me in many ways, or at least the way I like my men to turn out. I think I did a fine job, and so do his parents who re-informed me that these were my kids too as they re-reminded me that I am their guardian should anything happen... Truly I had forgotten.

So my nanny-boy is very musical--he is thinking about going to a conservatory of music for university. He gets that from me. I always brought him over to play instruments and we did lots of music. He also enjoys psychology and has apparently been working in some sort of counseling volunteer thing related to school (I need more details). I did that in school too! He likes to help people with their problems, but he doesn't think he is a good teacher. He is not patient. I am sure he gets that from me, though I am more patient with other people. My nanny-boy also enjoys Warcraft and gaming. He gets that from me completely, due to years of indoctrination with Aquarius, Cosmic Wimpout, many card games, and stories of the gaming world. He likes nerdy books and movies like Douglas Adams, Monty Python, and you name it. I gave him some of these books and suggested some of these movies cause I thought he would like them. I was 100% correct.

The best thing was that he enjoyed our conversation and had a nice time. Usually when I see him I am at one of his concerts so I rarely talk at length with him. I, too, was delighted and felt my connection to him, even though the cuddly three-year-old is now a very unphysical and slightly prickly teenager. He still gives me big hugs which makes me happy.

None of this is to say that I don't also love my nanny-girl, because I do, but I actually helped her brother with homework and music practice when he was in middle school for his first year and so feel I know him better as a big kid. Today I was standing next to my nanny-girl in the gym when she noticed me. I would never have recognized the self-possessed young woman with the makeup and heels looking so grown up. She said she knew I wouldn't recognize her. Funny. It's especially funny that no matter how big they get they still seem like little kids I met 13 years ago. I wonder what I seem like to them??