My Most Unusual Job

When we first moved to this house in 1973 we were warmly welcomed by many of the neighbors and I had opportunity to get to know some of them quite well. Some of us were in and out of each other's homes a number of times a week. We had children of various ages and some of them were friends with each other. My youngest was ten years old and the oldest was out of high school. I baby sat for some of the little ones in our court. Over the years we have seen the first babies grow up and have babies of their own. Some have stayed in our neighborhood. I'm like a grandmother to some of "my" original babies. I baby sat for them until they were too old for such things. 

It was fun when we were first on the block and the children came over to play board games. As the years went by the little ones that I baby sat for enjoyed card games as well as some newer board games. I can't remember how to play most of those games anymore. One game we learned and I want to relearn is Backgammon. I spent a lot of time at several of the other houses as I baby sat in their homes mostly. I don't get to the other homes much anymore, or have neighbors here, as things change over the years. There are neighbors who would enjoy a friendly visit, I'm sure.

One neighbor, who was a good friend, had a Santa Clause business that she inherited from her father. She hired Santas for different shopping centers. She had beautiful Santa suits, wigs and beards for the Santas to use. One year she hired another neighbor and me to wash and groom the wigs and beards. This was a fun time for neighbor chit chat and keeping our hands busy. We were both novices at this grooming wigs and beards business but I guess it was satisfactory. Say wigs and beards real fast several times and you get "bigs and wierds." The Santa business didn't last too many more years due to a divorce. This was sad since her father started the business.

So my longest job was caring for some of the neighbor children. And the most unusual was grooming wigs and beards. My shortest lasting job was when my neighbor helped me get a job bagging groceries at the commissary at North Island. I always thought that bagging groceries would be a good job for me. Well that was one of my worst days ever. If anything could go wrong it did. I had a ride each way with my neighbor and was crying on the way home. I refused to go back. It wasn't like they had my name written on a contract. I didn't even get the name tag I was supposed to wear. Of course that was cause for criticism. As for doing the job, I did my best, even following instruction. That was a negative. It wasn't as if I had never worked in a store before. I worked at an old variety store in Coronado for more than a year. It was a good job.

My favorite job is being a mother and grandmother, as well as being a wife. That is one reason child care works nicely for me. But I think I'm retired from that, unless family really needed me to help. I loved caring for my granddaughters when they were little and lived in San Diego. Now they live in Colorado and are adults with their own responsibilities. Melissa works in a preschool and goes to college. Becky is expecting her baby any day now. 

Image Credits: LadyDragonflyCC; Aoife city womanchile