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| Recently retired from the California Department of Education, Andrew Laufer is writing a book about his life including periods as a butcher's helper, food service worker, construction laborer, animal research assistant, seasonal fire fighter, and janitor. In his youth, he hitch-hiked up and down the coast and out to Colorado numerous times providing context for hundreds of short stories. |
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Being part of a large family generally means there are lots of little kids around. My wife, Nancy, is in the middle of seven siblings with about 22 years between her oldest sister and her youngest. All her siblings had two to four babies.
We were married for twelve years before having our own kids, so we were often asked to babysit our nieces and nephews. Nancy's younger sister Sonya, and her husband Marco, were due for a night out and they asked us to babysit six-month-old Marco, Jr. at our house. He knew us, and everything went well until it came time for bed.
He fussed at first, like he missed his mama's bedtime kisses, but then his patience ran thin when mom and dad were nowhere to be found. He got mad and going to sleep in a strange place was not an option. Nancy must have tried to calm him, but I don't remember her in the mix at all. What I do remember is that she went to bed, and it was up to me to take care of the boy. There we were, Marco Jr. and me, left to deal with the situation on our own.
I knew it was probably the strange surroundings and the break in his routine that were bothering him, but to be sure, I checked for a fever. He had no fever, his diaper was clean, and he had been fed.
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I tried to put him down when he seemed to be content, but NO, it wasn't going to happen. He was the boss crying vigorously at each attempt. Okay buddy, I thought, you win. I decided to relax and just sit with him until he was ready to go to sleep. It was a long evening.
At first, we sat on the floor, and things calmed down at around 2:30 AM. The only problem was, we weren't sleeping. Then I decided to lie down on the floor, and he followed suit.
There we were, lying on the floor together, face to face, about a foot apart — his eyes wide open, dark brown, almost black, and round as saucers, staring directly into mine.
We just sat there looking at each other, perfectly content for Lord knows how long. For me, it was a tender bonding moment I will never forget. I know he can't remember it, but trust was established that night, and it still exists today. He is thirty something now, and is still my buddy.
That is what was needed, a little quiet time with someone he trusted.
Hallelujah!
~ Andrew Laufer
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