Christina

Last night I had such a great conversation over the phone ... yes, over the phone, with the little girl I used to nanny in Connecticut. Christina's not little anymore. She's 17 and a junior in high school. It's been 10 years since I became a part of her family for 20 months. I've seen her three times since I moved back to Nebraska, but recently we've been in contact regularly through facebook. It's been fun to watch her grow and mature (although I thought she was pretty mature when she was 7) into this lovely young woman.

Well, we chatted because of a sad posting she made on facebook. She told me one of her guy friends confided in her that he had been contemplating suicide. Just about one month ago, however, one of her girlfriends from grade school committed suicide, so Christina took the boy's comment seriously.

In discussing this with her, I was amazed and pleased to see that she is still the confident, smart, caring girl that I met a decade ago, and I was honored that she was asking my advice.

During the course of our conversation, we decided she is going to come out and visit me (and Jason) in July!!!!! I got so giddy ... and almost immediately started planning her stay in my head, like play Barbies, make books, watch Sailor Moon cartoons. Then I realized she's not little anymore and would probably enjoy the Omaha zoo or Old Market instead. :)

I went to bed so excited and grateful that the little girl I devoted my days to for nearly two years is as fond of me now as I am of her. It made the experience all worth the while.