Anybody home?

Today was our new new new new new new new nanny's first day. Her name is Ashley, similar to our sitter 2 sitters ago. And she is very nice. She was on time this morning. Asked a ton of great questions. Is willing to work with the whole cloth diaper thing. Turned on the oven for Rick since he cooked a roast for some friends for dinner tonight - we've resorted to bribing sitters with really good food instead of payment. And she didn't call me several times during the day to say she couldn't get Ada to nap or stop crying. So, they had a great day as far as I'm concerned.


But... you can imagine my surprise when I walk in at 5:05 and noone's home. The lights are on. The stroller and diaper bag are gone. The house keys are gone. No baby. No Ashley. Nada. And being the calm, collected mother I have chosen to be, I didn't panic. Instead I went through the list of what ifs... What if they are having fun in the park and lost track of time? What if the new nanny ran off with my kid? What if Ada got hurt? What if Ashley got hurt?What if I didn't tell Ashley I'd be home at 5?


So what did I do? I called Rick and said "Nobody's home." He said, "Really?" and chuckled a bit. I explained and said, "Can you give me Ashley's number so I can call and see where she is?"


Now right here, all of you out there should be like "WHAT? Amanda didn't get this girl's name, number, address, cell phone, shoe size, underwear size, coffee preference, references, date of birth, social security number, last five boyfriends(or girlfriends) names and numbers, and have a background check run on her to make sure she isn't a crazed lunatic or sex offender?" To be honest, no. I didn't. The thought did cross my mind, but because I'm a trusting person and I trust my gut, I didn't. But I did briefly smack my head when I got home and thought, "What the heck would I tell the police if Ada was abducted?" "Well officer, you see, I, um, found her on the Internet, and um, her name is Ashley, and I think she lives near Halsted and Belmont, or is it Clark and Belmont, and um, she has brown hair, is about my height, maybe a little shorter, and um..." Needless to say, I'll have her fill out her life history tomorrow.


So I'm on the phone with Rick and he tries to give me her number, "773 - garble garble garble". The line went dead. So I tried again. "Hello, Rick, Hello." Cell phone reception cut out again. I call him back. Nothing. Then I start getting frustrated and rise to the next level of worry. Not elevated to Orange or Red like homeland security, but an orange shade of yellow. I forcefully set my phone on the kitchen counter and grab the house phone. I call Rick again and he reads me the rest of her number. I call her, and get her voicemail. I leave a message to call me back. Then I call Rick and say, "double check the number because the voicemail was generic." So he did, and it's correct. Then I look out the front door, and the back door, and the front door again. No sign of them. Hmmmm... what do I do now? Brrrrrrring. Phone rings. "Hey Amanda, I'm at Panera just finishing dinner. I thought you get home at 6." And I think to myself, "Silly mommy! You forgot to tell her you come home at 5 every night." Crisis averted.

Moral of the story: Maybe, it might kinda, potentially, sort of be a good idea to get some personal information about the people you leave your kids with in case you ever need it. Maybe.