August 2015: Wild

I met Neeley & Doug in 2001 after I responded to an ad in The Oregonian seeking a nanny for their two-year-old daughter.  At first, I reminded Neeley of her cousin, then later, like I could have been her step-child from a previous marriage.  For almost three years, I cared for Dillon two days a week from 8 am-6 pm & she was rambunctious but so daring & I loved her for her untethered ways.  She was a boisterous kid but never fussy & rarely cried cause she was tough as nails.  She liked all sorts of food & hot-Mama drinks, playing hide & seek, walking Lobo to the park & running around like a banshee busting through doors singing & yelling.  I used to make her run laps around the tennis court as I clapped & shouted her on so that afterward she would take a blessed two-hour nap.  She loved me back & called me TT.  After that, everybody did.

As time forces us to think new thoughts & look reality in the face, to take our odysseys & return home, I see that caring for people comes in many forms.  It's straight-forward but so challenging, concrete yet totally abstract, familiar, comfortable & also strange, scary.  Just like a wonderfully wild child.

I love you Dill, Neeley & Doug!  Thanks also, for taking care of me.

Yours,

TT

(Wells' House, Mt. Tabor) -Digital File-

(Wells' House, Mt. Tabor) -Digital File-

(Wells' House, Mt. Tabor) -Digital File-

(Wells' House, Mt. Tabor) -Digital File-

(Wells' House, Mt. Tabor) -Digital File-

(Wells' House, Mt. Tabor) -Digital File-

(Wells' House, Mt. Tabor) -Digital File-

(Wells' House, Mt. Tabor) -Digital File-

(Wells' House, Mt. Tabor) -Digital File-

(Wells' House, Mt. Tabor) -Digital File-

(Photo Taken By Neeley, Wells' House, Mt. Tabor) 

-Digital File-