About me

I grew up in the countryside and was a happy, fun-loving little girl and the 4th child and 3rd girl of my parents' 8 children. My family also included my mother's father and his sister aunt Julie (as we called her). My childhood was fun, I had lots of cousins that lived nearby and we always played together. As a little girl growing up I always go fishing with my big brother and some of my cousins. We had lots of cattle and there was a canal that runs at the back of our land. It was fun whenever we got back home we children would cook our catch of the day which was most of the time crayfish, shrimp, and blackfish. As children growing up we had to show respect to everyone in our neighborhood. We knew everyone and they knew all the children and their parents. After the birth of my two younger brothers, I helped to take care of them both times, I would give them a bottle, play with them so as to make them laugh, and also I would sing to them...all the nursery rhymes I knew at the time. I was always fond of babies. There was a nurse lady (Mrs. Tapper) and her husband lived across the street from us. They had a big white house and a large german shepherd and he was always on a long leash and had access to both inside and outside of their house. I was always afraid of him as he barked so loudly. They also had a small government clinic on the other side (at the front) of their land, they gave it for free but she worked at the hospital in the town. Aside from the dog, I would go by her house sometimes and she would come by our house to chat with my mom. She had helped to push nursing in my very young mind as she gave me cotton, gauze pads, tape, and a bandaid from time to time to take care of my siblings and my cousin's little bruises whenever they got one.
I became a pro at taking care of everyone's bruises. Whenever I played with my dolls I would pretend they were in the hospital with broken harm and bruised legs as they would all be banded up with tape, cotton, and gauze pads. I told everyone I was going to be a nurse, and they all believed me because I was so good at doing what I was doing and what I saw the real nurses do at the clinic did whenever I would go there to get my own shots or whenever my mom would send me there with my little brothers to get their shots....yes me. I was a very mature and a very industrious little girl as they all told me. So back in my young life as a nurse, I also learned from the pros the real thing(dressing wounds or bruises) with my siblings and my cousins, and the way I took care of babies and younger kids was what I learned from (the real nurses at the clinic). I grew up and before long I had a baby boy of my own and went to live in the city. Over time I got to know some young ladies that had babies. I was their baby's nurse (voluntarily) as I would go every morning and I gave the babies sponge down and clean and takes care of their belly buttons. After the belly button was healed then I would go every morning and start giving them baths. "It was what I was born for, yes!! to care for these precious bundles of joy". A baby gives so much joy!! You have to love them whether they are your birth or not so as to feel that joy. Also when you watch them grow...their smiles, then their little babblings, their laughter, then crawling, and then their first step(walking), lastly their first word.....aaaawwww it was and still is a good feeling to hear and see a baby being happy, also even when they are sad ....to comfort them. Surprisingly I now had a family that consist of 2 girls plus a boy. The children and I were living together, over a few years after we went back to live in the country I owned my own business. It was a farm store and a Mini Hardware. It was a thriving business and I knew if not all most of my customers. We would chat and catch up on current events and family. The children would help out in the business when they were not in school. In 2004 our country suffered a devastating category 4 hurricanes. It hit my business real hard and our home. I lost everything in the business and I didn't have insurance. Half of the roof flew away on our house.... it was very bad. I could not rebuild without insurance money so I decided that I would travel to find work in the Cayman Islands as they suffered greater damage from the same hurricane and needed help (workers). We decided that the girls would stay with their aunt, their dad's sister, that was living somewhere else in the countryside but not too far from their school. My son was living at the time before the hurricane, with my younger siblings (2 brothers and a sister and her 2 kids) that were still living in our family home, he had finished school and was working.
I left for the Cayman Islands in July 2005. I did a few jobs here and there until finally, I hit jackpot! A baby job. He was a couple of months old and his parents were teachers and needed a caring and trustworthy person to care for their bundle of joy. I assured them that the proof would be in the pudding. It didn't take long for them to see those words coming through before their eyes. Ian was so smart... even though he had a little difficulty holding things with his hand he also needed speech therapy. I took him to his speech therapy a couple of days of a week and another therapist would come by the house to work with him with his hands. I remember his first-word "man". On the street where they lived a house was being refurbished so whenever we went on our long walks in the morning and passed by, one of the men working on the house was very loud(his voice echoed) and was always at the front of the house and he would say hi to Ian and I and Ian would try to talk back to him with babbling sounds and I would say "man" and so yes his first word was that. His parents and I got along ( they were from my country)and Ian and I were best friends. I stayed with him until he was about 2 plus years, his parents had decided to put him in the preschool section at her school as it would be more convenient for them. I understand. They introduced me to Mr. and Mrs. Codner and also to the second cozy apartment that I had lived in for years and it was very near to the town. The landlord (husband and wife) and I got along well. My second job was with one of the landlord's daughters, I knew her well, but she had developed posttraumatic stress after her only child was born. Her parent had asked me to stay with the baby for me. It was my pleasure. He was cute and was a quiet little baby boy. Her parents wanted her to bond with the baby but I told them to let her be as she didn't really care about the baby at that time. I stayed with him night and day and gave him all the love that I could and treated him like my own. From time to time I would have encouraging chat with his mom and assure her that he loves his mom and can't wait for her to get well. So I also encouraged her to get well because I wouldn't want her to miss out on the cute stuff, she was also getting therapy. Over the course of a couple of weeks, she was better and mother and child were reunited a very happy ending. My next job was introduced to me by someone I knew well, her hairdresser and owner of the business was my new employer's mom. The wife Kristen was pregnant at the time and they needed someone that they could trust and someone with years of experience since he was their first child. We set up an appointment, on the day of the appointment I told them to look no further I am the real deal. I reassured them that the proof would be in the pudding. For sure it was!!! I started working with them a few weeks before Malik came, doing chores around the house as she couldn't do it anymore. I remember the day Malik arrived home, I heard the garage door went up then down, then the side door to the garage, and the passage flew open I ran to the door a baby's car seat was handed to me by his father (Justin) I took it with care. He was fast asleep. I gazed at his tiny beautiful face and sat the car seat down in the sitting room, and gazed at him some more, it was love at first sight. I loved him. This little boy was as if he was my own, I cared for him, 'a fly could not perch on him', I wouldn't let that happen. We would read together, we took long walks in the morning before the sun got hot. From he was months old I would show him all the road signs spell them out and say the names. There was a school bus depot at the top of their street and we would stop there I would show him the bus. Spell the word bus, sings 'the wheel on the bus song', and other nursery rhymes. We always love to go on walks we had so much fun. Sometimes we would leave the house before his mom left for work, so she would always say goodbye to him before going off to work. Most times she has to call to see which street we were on because she couldn't find us. Very