Big life changes...

Before you ask, my big life changes do not have anything to do with babies. If I say that I'm announcing news, 90% of you will assume I'm pregnant. The other 10% wound up here by mistake.

The whole thing has such a convoluted story, I have a hard time figuring out where to start.

So, let's start with the fact that Mike and I are becoming those people. The ones that have gardens, don't shop at Walmart, buy meat from a farm and make their own granola.

We've been thinking about moving down to only one car. Namely, getting rid of my lemony car. Eventually.

Like say, leaving my job sometime in the summer of 2012 because, by then, maybe I would be pregnant. And, bebe or no, all three kids would be in elementary school and I would because just about useless here.

And then, when that transition happened, we'd transition to the one car. Until we were able to find a used hybrid Ford Flex. A hybrid Ford Flex does not exist yet, however, so Ford's really gotta get on that if they want to be a team player.

All that leads up to last week. Tuesday of last week, to be specific--3:45pm to be really specific--I crashed my car.

I crashed it into someone who didn't see the brake lights of the car in front of her and, thus, crashed her car into someone who narrowly avoided crashing his car into someone else who had stopped in the middle of the road because he thought some flashing caution lights were going to turn red. They never turned red. The firemen weren't even thinking about turning them red for any reason whatsoever. They told me so.

Ahem.

Anyway. Everyone was fine. No injuries.

My car, however, was towed away.

I got a rental car the following day, which was rather nice. Glad we didn't take my collision insurance down to liability like we were going to.

Are you still reading this? Have you guessed my big life change?

We decided that if they fixed my car, we'd go with the plan. If they couldn't fix my car, I'd leave sooner than summer 2012.

Sooner as in, in a few months.

Turns out they couldn't fix my car. Or, rather, it wasn't worth it.

So, next year, I'll have to take "part-time nanny" off my list of things I am currently doing.

I was sick to my stomach just thinking about it. Sick thinking about telling my bosses. Who are less like bosses and more like family.

But, of course, we all knew this was coming. So, I told them. I sobbed. We all stood around shocked for a minute.

It was coming sooner or later. We all knew it. And, like my dear friend Katie reminded me, it is unheard of to have a nanny stick around for seven years. And Jeff said he was just glad that his kids could have me for that long. I'm glad I could have them.

Being a nanny for this family has had a greater effect on my life than almost anything else I've ever done. 

As I usually am with any sort of change or adventure, I'm excited and terrified all the same time. 

I can't wait to see where life will take me next and, at the same time, I am so so so very sad to know that soon, I won't know these children as intimately as I do today. 

Summer 2007, I had been here for about 3 years in this photo.

August 2009, ringbearer & flower girl at my wedding. I'd been taking care of A for 5 years and L, for her whole life thus far.

Sleepy D at my wedding. All he really wanted was some cake.