My mother always told me, "No Husbands? No Babies!" and since I still have no husband to speak of (just a very loving and devoted boyfriend) I have followed her rule. So for the time being, I am a childless mother who truly enjoys spending time with my friends and their babies. And I really like kids. All kids...well most kids, and I've found that I have managed to fill my adult life with other people's children (more on that little play on words later). And now that we (my friends and I) are all getting be "about that age" everyone is popping out babies. I'm thrilled. I love them. All of them...well most of them. There have been times in life where my love for these F'Bs (friend's babies) was almost an obsession. There have been times in my life where these F'Bs were also my job and a proper source of income. That is where this story really beings...
When I graduated from NYU, I intended to quickly find work on the stage and screen. If that didn't work, I would simply write an amazing play/movie/novel/comic book, possibly the next Harry Potter and find myself financially solvent and socially fulfilled by the ripe old age of 22. I would really "be somebody" by the age of 23. There was no back up plan to speak of and the clock was ticking. I had a work study job in my art school's Student Affairs office working as one of the Dean of Students front desk receptionists. Shortly before graduation he called my into his office for a chat. I had won a speech writing contest and was named the Tisch School of the Arts Graduation Speaker that year, I goal I had set in motion 3 years earlier. The Dean and I met a couple of times to go over the speech. He wanted to make sure that I gave the speech I had won the contest with and would not go "off book" as the speaker a previous year had done, melting into an emotional puddle of "I'm just going to throw away my note cards and speak from my heart...We're OK. I'm OK. We're going to be OK!" The Dean asked me what my employment plans were, post graduation. I explained my plan to audition and work as an actor. He smiled and said, "well yeah, but what else?" Oh...money...he was talking about money, and rent and AHHHHH! "I'm going to be a nanny," I said. And so the spell/wish/prophecy was sent out into the Universe to take root. A few days later while sipping a latte with my roommate HanNah in Tompkins Square Park, we spotted an adorable little red head baby rolling towards us in a stroller. HanNah saw her first. Curly headed, colorful mismatched outfit (the kind you wish you could still pull off, but only girls under the age of 7 really do.) We both agreed that she was the coolest, cutest one-year-old in the park, and then I realized that the girl pushing the stroller was a girl from my school. A fellow actress-to-be who had apparently tapped into the whole nanny world before I had even sent my wish out to the Universe. I got the low down on this red-headed toddler...East Village residence, yoga/film editor mom, architect/contractor Dad, a few hours a day maybe 3 days a week. That left me plenty of time for all the auditioning I was about to start doing, and they lived in my neighborhood, and the kid...oh man, the kid...she practically breaks loose of her stroller bonds to climb into my arms to hug me. How would I snake this job from my classmate? Easy. She was going home for the Summer Break, and intended to return to New York in the Fall, I could be her replacement until she returned. It was that easy. All that was needed was a phone call to the red head's mom and an endorsement from the soon to be EX-nanny who, come to think of it, knew absolutely nothing about my childcare skills and knew only that I could sing and dance and work up a good cry if I needed to, and I was in.
Because she's a good mom, I was invited for an interview before being awarded the job of taking care of her most precious possession. In the interview I answered normal questions you would ask someone that you let into your house to watch your baby. Experience? Yes, I've actually been babysitting since I was 10. Started as a Mommy's Helper, where I played with some neighbor's 4-year-old while she cooked dinner or made phone calls, or napped and made sure said 4-year-old didn't drown or electrocute himself. I remember picking out the dress I would wear to this "job" with my mother. It was blue. I thought it make me look responsible. I don't remember if I was paid. I kind of doubt it. I moved up to real babysitting by the age of 12. Neighbor's kids again, while their parents were near bye, and my parents were near bye. I took a babysitting course offered by the Hospital when I was in high school. I was Infant/Child CPR certified. I spoke English as a first language. I was clean, and prompt and was excellent at reading stories out loud, doing all the voices. Short of a degree in childcare, I was as good a Nanny as you were gonna get for, what was it?, $10 bucks and hour? Maybe $12. Needless to say, I got the gig and that is how Piper (that is the famous red head's name) came into my life, and I into hers.
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