In December of 1994 The Wilkes family flew me first class to New York. They picked me up from LaGuardia airport and drove me to their home in Westport, Connecticut. I was their new nanny. They had two kids, Jennie was seven and Sammy was three. I loved Sammy to pieces. Jennie was okay, but she treated me more like a servant than her nanny. Stephen Wilkes was a commercial photographer and Bette helped him with his business. They were a Jewish family. My schedule was supposed to be from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. but I found out quickly, that I would be expected to work more than that. Night one, Bette took me into the kitchen to show me where everything was and tell me how she liked things done. I had gone there expecting to be a nanny, but they wanted me to do a lot more than that. They also wanted me to make all the beds (including theirs which had about 20 pillows on it), take out the garbage, walk the dog, do everyone's laundry, cook and clean too. I was not very happy, but I figured I would make the most of it. The first week was really difficult. Stephen and Bette were both working from home so it was a bit awkward. Since I was new, Sammy kept running to them when he was upset. It took some time for him to realize he could come to me. Aside from everything they wanted me to do at the house, I was also expected to drop them off at the train station some mornings so they could take the train to their office in Manhattan.
My first Sunday there I found the singles ward which made me feel a lot better. It was a ward with about 200 hundred nannies so I instantly had 200 new friends, plus about 35 young men friends. Every Wednesday we would meet at the church to play volleyball, and talk and laugh and sing. It was a good time. On weekends when my family went skiing, some of the girls would come sleep over at my house or we would have a sleep over at another nannies house. Other weekends we would go on road trips. One time we went to Washington D.C. One time we went to Boston and had the opportunity to hear President Hinkley speak at a regional conference. We usually drove in my friend Sandy's convertible, and would listen to music and sing at the top of our lungs and always had the best time. We often went to dances. One time I met a cute cadet from West Point. We met up one weekend to spend a day together. He met me in Westport and we explored the area and then drove to West Point where I got a guided tour. He was really the only guy I had met that I wanted to spend any time with. I did go out with a couple other guys. A guy named Wayne signed us up for a dance class in Manhattan that was fun.
 |
| Nanny friends at the White House |
 |
| Vietnam Memorial Wall |
 |
| They made me a cake for my 21st birthday |
 |
| D,C. Temple |
 |
| Boston |
Just before Christmas, I decided to take the train to Manhattan to explore the city. I was all alone, but I gave myself a little tour. I saw Trump Tower with the ice skaters out front, I walked to the Empire State Building and took a ride up the elevator to the top. It was a cloudy day, so there wasn't much of a view, but I could check it off my bucket list. I also went to Radio City Music Hall, scalped a ticket and went to the Christmas Spectacular. It really was spectacular. The Rockets were fun to watch, but my favorite part was the live Nativity with real camels. It was beautifully done.
 |
| Christmas Spectacular live Nativity |
 |
| Top of the Empire State Building |
In March, I went with the Wilkes family to Miami Beach for two weeks. They rented a condo right on the beach. We went there because Stephen was filming a commercial. Most of the days I had free time to lay out or do whatever I wanted. Occasionally they asked me to watch the kids at the pool. It was a nice change of scenery.
When we got back from Florida, things started to get weird. Bette and Stephen told me that they didn't like me going to church activities and taking their car. They told me that they didn't like me saying a blessing on the food around the kids. Some days they would go into Manhattan and not come home, so I would be responsible for the kids all night. They were taking advantage of me and I wasn't going to stand for it. I decided that I didn't want to stay for the entire year and that I would go home at the end of April. Although things didn't go as I had hoped, I made lots of friends and had many good memories and experiences in Connecticut.
Comments
Post a Comment