Marcus was working up in Grande Prairie. Approximately twelve to fourteen hour drive away from us. I was putting the kids to bed when Marcus had called to say goodnight to me and the kids. I walked back upstairs with the phone to let him talk to the kids. Our daughter pulled the cover over her head and said that she didn’t want to talk to him. I spoke to Marcus telling him what she was doing. The odd behavior puzzled both of us. Our little girl was very sassy and stubborn. She was strong willed and strong minded. A handful that’s for sure but also a smart cookie. We knew that she would for sure grow up to be something of true importance because of her smarts. She refused to talk to her dad. Our son talked gibberish and giggled on the phone with him for a bit but our daughter refused. Finally getting her to take the phone from me and talk to him, she said “hi daddy, where are you”? I heard him say he was working. She immediately threw the phone to me and said “That’s not my daddy. Daddy is in heaven and there are no phones in heaven”! Marcus and I were shocked and speechless. We didn’t know what to say. That statement had totally thrown us off guard. She wouldn’t touch the phone again after that. I could hear Marcus’s heart breaking. I could sense that statement had hurt him. I didn’t know what to say. The phone was silent for a bit then Marcus suddenly said ” I’m turning the truck around. I will be home soon. It’s a long drive home but I will see you as soon as I can get there. I’m done with this”! Sure enough, that’s just what he did. Yes he had to work but the struggles of him not being around while the kids were growing up was hard for both of us. He had already missed so much of their growing up. First steps, first words. So many occasions. I was so excited he was going to come home. We would work on a job for him that required him to work in town. Leave every morning and come home every night like everyone else. That would sure be amazing! In any case, that was happening! He was coming home! He was not due home for over a week but he was now coming home! Finally the next day, he made it home safely. I prepared a huge dinner for him and we sat together eating as a family. It was pretty special. That night in bed, he told me that what our daughter said to him really hurt his heart. She didn’t get to see him and be around him as much as she wanted so she assumed he had died and gone to heaven. What a horrific assumption for a daddy to hear. I was glad he made it home safely. While waiting for him to find another job, I decided to watch a few more kids for some extra money and to play with my kids as well. I ended up becoming good friends with the parents. We had a lot in common. It was more important that I got along and liked the parents more than anything. It’s the parents and their personalities that tell you what kinds of children they have. Some kids in interviews would come into my home spitting on the floor and literally jumping on the couches and the parents would just sit there and say ” oh, stop that hunny, your not being very nice”, while they continuously spit and ransacked the entire room. You could tell the parents couldn’t care less how bad their child was behaving. Those parents would definitely not get a call back from me. I chose parents whom had the same care, parenting and love as we did with our kids.
One Saturday, Marcus was sleeping in and the kids were antsy. They wanted to run and burn off energy. I decided to take them to the closest local school playground. While they were playing, a Filipina woman came and sat down next to me. She was minding the children playing at the park as well but the kids didn’t belong to her. She was their nanny. We ended up chatting on the picnic table. She told me she was the live in nanny of three kids that lived pretty close by. She went on to mention that she also did house cleaning on the side. I was excited. I told her I would love some extra help on Saturdays with cleaning my house! We agreed for her to come see me the following Saturday. Even once a month would be great. The following Saturday came and in the late morning, I received a phone call from her crying hysterically. Her name was Girlie. I yelled on the phone “what the matter? What is going on”?? Girlie told me that she was chasing a two year old whom had dashed for the street when a bus was coming. Girlie had chased her to stop her ans slipped on a patch of ice falling and hitting her calf on a rock. She had broken it. Her employer had come to assess the situation seeing as how it was in the field just being there house. The employer had her luggage in tow leaving it next to her while she called an ambulance to pick her up telling Girlie “your no use to me anymore”! What a bitch! I can’t believe someone can do that to another human being. I told Girlie to relax and let the ambulance take her to the hospital. I told her Marcus and I would meet her there. Not to worry. All would be OK.
We arrived at the hospital and she was so happy to see us, crying hysterically. She knew no one in Canada. She had just arrived as a foreign worker, a caregiver/nanny. Her employer was to begin her paperwork so she would be allowed to work in Canada. She promised Girlie many things but never did them. As an employer, she thought she could save money by not paying her taxes as there was no binding papers. Girlie had no medical insurance or anything. The doctors told us she had broken her two bones on one leg between her ankle and her knee. She was rushed into surgery right away. I cares so much for this woman and had only met her now a second time. Marcus and I were people that could not see sadness or devastation. If we could help in any way we always did. Whomever or for whatever. I got on the phone with immigration Nd told them of the horrific ordeal that had happened. I told them if it was possible, I would sign her paperwork and hire her as a nanny for us and our kids. Even though there was the possibility of her not walking for a very long time. We promised on paper to take care of her and all her needs to heal and to live a normal life. We definitely couldn’t afford a nanny on one salary and I was a stay at home mom for our kids but in the long run, when Girlie was able to tend to our children, I could perhaps go back to work or start teaching privately again. Girlie was in the hospital for five days before she was allowed to come home with us. Marcus and I cleaned out our savings of just over eight thousand dollars to pay her bill. We got her home and Marcus carried her into the house. We sat her down on a comfy couch and placed her leg up on our ottoman. The leg was so heavy from the huge cast she had on. They had to pin her leg in eight places back together again. It would be a long healing process that we would have to go though with her but she was so grateful and told us that almost every hour on the hour. She was to become a part of our family now. We didn’t mind at all. We would have to take care of her fully as another child. Bathing her, cleaning her, feeding her and putting her to bed everyday.
theangelsforgotme 