coming through in a pinch

I got a phone call from one of my favorites a few minutes ago. Let's call him "desperate dad". Desperate dad and I go way back, in fact he gave me my first long term nanny job. I was maybe 13 or 14 and his sweet baby was around 6 months old. I spent the summer rocking her to sleep (and cleaning up the bottles they left lying around for days).
Come to think of it, desperate dad and his clan are probably why I love nannying. His first is beyond adorable. One of my favorite children ever, seriously, the stories I have could fill a book. Such a personality & the easiest of his children [I give myself a sound amount of credit there- this little one and I spent some serious time together].

Pause

Let me confirm, desperate dad does have a wife, but she has one of those fancy suit wearing really demanding jobs. She and desperate dad are both great parents, just a little flaky sometimes. Since I was in high school and then off at college they hired a full time nanny. I think they might have gone through a couple....don't know for sure. They're in a group of families where those details get fuzzy. You never know what's going on. I learned a lot about flexibility.

Anyway my point IS that desperate dad called me tonight for the first time in months. He said he knew I was available for weekends (i.e. he went through the list of high schoolers who usually come through). He asked for me on Sunday...for 2.5 hours...in mid morning. I said yes, because I'm soft. He just needs me for the youngest...who loved me once...but last summer hated me. So we'll see how this goes. I'll report back. I confirmed babysitting locations with desperate dad (because you can never assumes it's the house) and he said "Thanks for always coming through in a pinch April". I said goodbye, hung up the phone, and laughed.

Isn't that what a good nanny does?
Come through in a pinch?
I think for those families who mean a lot to you it is.