recently rediscovered

  I'm so thankful my parents encouraged me to start working at a young age. 
First it was babysitting jobs, and only one of my regular jobs was easy.

 The others involved cooking supper, cleaning up the kitchen, reading stories, and Saturday night baths. Often I cared for large families. But I am so grateful for all the experiences and the training I received from such work. 

And then came the day when I took my SS card and went down to the local nursing home to apply for a job as a nurse's aid. Then the experiences really began. Caring for elderly patients in ways I never anticipated was tough, but stood me in good stead in life experiences and for nursing school. 

(I see so many young people today who don't work in the summers 

and think of all they are missing that might help them as they mature in life.)

But I digress. The main point is to share a poem I recently rediscovered. A good friend showed me a journal I had given her a few years ago, and inside I had copied this poem. The poet is approaching 90 now but still so active and just signed with a publisher for her next poetry volume. She is the connection to the babysitting discourse above. I babysat often for her five kids and it was one of those all encompassing jobs. Wow, a lot of responsibility and I was only 14.  

I sure learned a lot and am grateful. 

Wrong Turn

by Luci Shaw

I took a wrong turn the other day.

A mistake, but it led me to the shop where I found

the very thing I'd been searching for.

With my brother I opened a packet of old letters from my mother and saw a side of her

that sweetened what had been deeply sour.

Later that day the radio sang a song from

a time when I was discovering love,

and it folded me into itself again.

from What the Light was Like, WordFarm, 2006