It's Hard To Be Witty When You're Sad

I would like to introduce you all to Tasha.

Tasha is our Nanny, Caregiver, Friend and Saviour. Tasha has been with us for a little over a year. Some days it feels like we have known her forever and then yet I can not believe that she has been with us a year. Up until a year ago, Tasha worked at the daycare/preschool which our daughter attends. She left to finish up the last of her schooling and to do her student teaching for her bachelors. She will graduate in one week. And then she is moving.........4 hours away. What can you say when you are losing one of the most important people in yours and your child's life?

When Tasha worked as a caregiver at the daycare she was not allowed to privately babysit or be a nanny to any of the children who were enrolled there. Girlfriend has been attending the school since she was 16 months old, and she is now 3. When Tasha left the school, she gave my husband her number in hopes that we would call her to babysit sometime. To make a long story short, we had NEVER used a babysitter before and truthfully had not even thought about using one then, so I stowed away the phone number not really thinking I would ever use it. Anywhere we went, our daughter went. Yes, we are neurotic and overprotective that way.............still. We were also at the time actively looking for a new home in Farmington. At one new housing development they had an open house so we went in. Inside was Tasha, "house sitting" so to speak. She was making some extra money for an Alaskan cruise coming up, plus she could study while waiting for house shoppers to come in and look around. Imagine Girlfriends happiness to see one of her favorite caregivers from school.

Tasha has been with us ever since! She picks up Girlfriend at least once a week, she has taken care of her when she's been sick, she has called us and told us that we were going out to dinner alone and she was coming over to get the baby, not giving us a choice, and she has been there when emergencies arise and stepped in to help. Her parents LOVE our daughter and have become surrogate grandparents to her. I left out one important thing......Tasha just tuned 20 last April, right before Girlfriend turned 3. If anyone would have told my husband and I that we would feel completely comfortable letting a 19 year old take complete care of our most precious item in the world, we would have laughed in their face.

I can not say enough about how much Tasha loves our daughter and how much she loves Tasha in return. We are DEEPLY saddened to be losing her. Not only to lose someone you trust COMPLETELY with your child, but just to lose Tasha in general, she is just an outstanding person.....smart, beautiful, nice, sweet, compassionate, FUNNY, trustworthy, and just plain special. Thank you Tasha.....we love you, we will miss you, we are SUPER proud of you. We are heartbroken to see you go, but also excited for you to begin a new and independent life for yourself.


So you see, it is hard to be funny, lighthearted, crafty and witty when you are sad.

In tribute to "my Tasha", as Maddy would say, here are just a few pictures of our girl and Tasha together and then just some funny pictures of Tasha by herself.