Mary + Her Mental Health

This is George. My old boss. I met him when he was 4 months old. He's now three months shy of his 2nd birthday. George is my dream boy.

I nannied George for almost a full year, and in that year, I'm convinced I learned just as much about life as he did. I miss him. This morning, I got this photo from his mom. The family is down in Connecticut now.

I was taking George for a walk on an incredibly cold day in April when I got the call offering me my current job. After I had accepted the new position, and hung up, I looked down into the stroller, at the back of this beautiful boy's head, and started to cry quietly. I was leaving Georgie. I felt like we were breaking up. And in that moment, what killed me, is that he had no idea that I just accepted a job that would separate us for good.

Do you know how much fun it is to just show up to work in jeans and play with a little boy all day? Lemme tell ya. Fun. Exspecially when we're talking about George. So happy, so fun. So expressive. So not a finicky eater. So went down for his naps without major drama, so read stories with me. So. So. Fun.

He was my pal. We would make each other laugh constantly. One of our favorite games was "wear the toys". We'd put strange objects on our head and walk around like royalty until they objects fell off our heads, and then that was my cue for a big reaction which invoked silly laughing.

I loved singing to George, because he'd just stare at me the whole time I was singing to him. I loved our bedtime ritual: music & dancing; bubble bath with dinosaurs; jammies; stories; songs; snuggles; bed.

I miss you Georgie. Here are the lyrics to one of the songs I made up for you; you knew it well:

oh i have a little friend and his name is George
we neither of us been to the Valley Forge
but we like to sing and play and we snuggle, too
and mary says to Georgie "i love you"

oh i have a little friend and his name is George
we neither of us seen the crystal gorge
but we like to swing on swings and the sandbox, too
and mary knows that Georgie loves her too.