Life of Wry

Long, long ago, I was a cracker jack babysitter. I had a number of regular gigs… the Walters twins (Christa and Linda), the Fredricks kid (who called me Petercinder), the kids whose parents were friends with Glen Campbell who also had a water bed (and were very groovy), the kids in that cool house at the corner of Pasqual and PV Dr. North (don’t even remember how many there were), all kinds of Kramer club family kids, and the kids in this place down the street…

… which we called the Hansel and Gretel house.

Here’s the funnest thing: after about 43 years, I found Katja L. on Facebook. I sent her a private message and asked if she were the little Katja I used to baby sit. Three years later, this past weekend, and so out of the blue, she responded. Yes she was! We exchanged a couple of messages–her parents, whom I absolutely adored, moved to the east coast shortly after Katja’s little brother Nicholas was born and ended up having six kids! Katja lives in California and has kiddos of her own. Her parents are happy, healthy and enjoying their eight grandchildren. She seemed not as thrilled by the reconnection, so I let it go, but it was very nice, and really trippy, for me to hear the news.

Even as routine as my southland visits are–after 38+ years of living in faraway Davis–I still always find something to get all nostalgic about.