When Dr. Sanders received a call from the hospital regarding an emergency, she found herself in a tough situation. She had the day off but had a difficult time finding a babysitter for her three young children.
“Now? Are you sure Dr. Morris isn’t available?” she asked Nurse Carey over the phone, already changing her clothes and trying to figure out a solution to her difficulty.
“No, Dr. Sanders. Dr. Morris is currently driving across state lines trying to get here. You live close by, so I thought I would call. The interns have no idea what they’re doing. I know it’s your day off, but I didn’t know what else to do. Will you be able to come?” Nurse Carey said, doing her best not to sound worried.
Dr. Sanders quickly called her sister for assistance, but she wasn’t at home and couldn’t help. She then called Vicky, the woman who occasionally babysat the kids, but she said she wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t come in.
Following the death of her husband Peter, Dr. Sanders was left to raise her three children, Johnny, 9, Christie, 7, and Lucy alone.
She usually spent a lot of money for the local daycare facility when she had regular work schedules, but she couldn’t rush them in that day. It was nearly noon on a Friday, and she felt horrible mailing them.
Dr. Sanders heard her three children rushing out of the home, crying “Uncle Bob, Uncle Bob,” in the midst of the mayhem.
They didn’t have an uncle, but the local garbageman who took Dr. Sanders’ trash for over ten years became so nice with her children that they learned to like him over time.
Watching Bob with her children, Dr. Sanders came up with an idea. Approaching him, she said, “Bob, I have a crazy request. I know you’re busy. But I was wondering if you would babysit my kids for 25 minutes. I have to check something urgent at the hospital, and I have no one else,” she begged as her kids were looking at Bob hoping for a positive answer.
“Okay, Dr. Sanders. “I can watch them for a while,” he said, nodding and smiling. The kids jumped and cheered.
“They are more than a handful, though. “I am warning you,” she said.
“Do not worry. You go ahead. “Your job is important,” Bob responded.
Dr. Sanders went to the hospital, but because the emergency required surgery, she remained there for more than three hours. She felt awful for leaving Bob with her demanding and misbehaving children for so long.
Once home, Dr. Sanders’ jaw dropped when she saw her home perfectly tidy.
“What happened here? My house… is unrecognizable. And why aren’t the kids screaming and running around?”
“Lucy is napping, and Christie and Johnny are in their rooms, reading,” Bob answered.
“What? Are you kidding me?”
“No, go see.”
Shocked, Dr. Sanders asked, “How did you do this?”
“Oh, Dr. Sanders. I was a single father raising kids once. Mine were ten times worse than these three angels,” Bob laughed. “I taught them to pick up after themselves and narrated them fairy tales. Your kids ate that up. You might want to buy them more books.”
As Bob was departing, Dr. Sanders apologized for being late again and offered him money, but he declined, saying it was his joy to spend time with the kids.
Dr. Sanders was really thankful. That night, as she reflected on her day, she decided to offer Bob to take care of her children instead of working as a garbageman.
She gave him a salary that was three times higher than his previous employment. The babysitting job would provide better health benefits.
After some deliberation, Bob accepted the job, and Dr. Sanders was so grateful that she gave him a Christmas bonus and plane tickets for his family to visit Disneyland in California later that year.
This mother realized that her children needed someone who felt like family to look after them. They loathed daycare because they disliked being among strangers.
