I have known my boss since I was twelve. I am now almost thirty (yiiiikes) and my boss’ daughter is going off to college in three days.
Let me tell you about my boss’ daughter- Casey. I’ve known Casey since she was two. She was the first child I baby-sat for (yes, at a mere 12 years of age), along with her newborn brother. She was the first baby I bathed, the first child I pushed down the block for a walk… she was like a little sister and daughter in one.
Any money I made from 12-18 was from them. I spent at least three days a week with them, picked them up from school, made them dinner… we baked her first Christmas cookies together. She was my Casey-girl. Now she’s a Casey Woman, which doesn’t have as good a ring to it.
When I left my job at Jamba Juice, waaay back in 1999, the first people I called for a job was Casey’s parents. Amazingly, there was an opening in this tiny 5 person company, and I filled it. It was the best job in the world, as I got to see Casey and her brother every week, during the summers it was every day. We’d walk to the park together, to McDonalds so she could get a McFrosty or whatever those soft-serve blends were. She’d eat my mushy fries and I’d take her crispy ones. We’d hold hands as we crossed the street and marvel at the crazy ass squirrels who were perched so threateningly on the branches chittering down at us. She’d sit at my desk typing “letters” on the typewriter, one time even trying to type a letter to the Santa Monica Parks people to complain about them changing the playground toys from wooden to plastic.
I love her brother as well, don’t get me wrong, he’s the first diaper I ever changed, and the boy I literally watched grow taller than me. Still, my love for Casey is different- as it should be. Even though she’s growing up now, has a boyfriend and a car, she’ll still stop by the office to say hi, or call me for advice for something, the sweetheart has even given me rides home from work. She’s one of the smartest, hardest working and beautiful girls I’ve ever had the luck to know. I suppose it would be presumptuous of me to assume I had any part in that, but I’d like to think she’ll remember our years together fondly.
Now that I prepare to bring home my very own little girl, I can’t stop thinking about how quickly the past 16 years have gone by. One second I was picking her up from preschool and making Teddy Graham sundaes and playing “Putt-Putt saves the Zoo” on the computer- tucking her in at night while reading “Bread and Jam for Frances” for a third time that week; next second she’s rubbing my belly and telling me how she can’t wait to see the baby when she comes home from college for Thanksgiving.
I was in her life, I was part of it all. She was at my wedding, and will hold my daughter when she’s born. Life really does come full circle, doesn’t it?
Right now I’m feeling a lot like The Giving Tree, only she was never a taker.
