Babysitter No. 4: The Best Babysitter in the World

The first time I was supposed to meet Sheri, I didn't.

It was August 2002. Ben and John were 27 and 8 months respectively. I had just lost my second babysitter in two months, and had launched my third search.

When Sheri called, she wanted to know why my ad kept reappearing in the newspaper. I can't even remember what I told her. My kids are hellions? The first two babysitters ran screaming from my house?

We scheduled an interview for 2:30 in the afternoon. At 2, I fell asleep on my bed with Ben, so when she came to my door, no one answered. I crossed her off my list and figured it was my loss. I ended up hiring Kerri.

When I ran my fourth ad, Sheri called again. We discussed my inability to hire a competent babysitter as well as my inability to keep an appointment. Then we agreed to meet.

To say I grilled Sheri doesn't adequately describe my demeaner this fourth time around. I grilled everyone I interviewed, because I was not, I repeat, NOT going to make another mistake. I made sure Brian was home for every interview, too, because I was not, I repeat, NOT going to take the blame for another bad babysitter episode by myself.

I told Sheri that babysitting my kids was "no walk in the park," something she recalled many months later ("I kept thinking, 'What have I gotten myself into?'"). I asked her and several of her references how reliable she was, because that's what I wanted: Reliable, reliable, reliable! I also wanted to know about her attitude, i.e., did she have one? I wanted no attitude. I wanted sane. I wanted someone to last more than two weeks.

Her references went back 10 years and were impeccable. She was a mom of two girls, a five year old and an 11 year old. Something about her seemed ... real. When I said "No TV," she looked a little put off for a moment. She wasn't overly sweet with my boys, but she seemed to know her way around them. One of her references claimed she'd worked for two years without missing a shift. They all said she played with the kids, did arts and crafts and play dough, took them for walks.

She was a professional.

When I called her later that week, I told her she seemed like someone I could work with. I told her I sensed that she would be honest with me if she had any issues, that she wouldn't walk around my house with an attitude, something I just couldn't deal with.

For some reason, she took the job anyway.

How do I sum up how great Sheri was?

• In two years, she missed work twice: once when my boys had a major stomach flu the week before she was to leave on vacation, and once when she had the stomach flu so bad her husband called an ambulance.

• She showed up for work one morning, in tears, because a close relative had died suddenly of bacterial meningitis. And (despite my protests) she worked her entire shift.

• She walked my kids to the park or took them outside whenever the weather was nice.

• She washed dishes and picked up toys.

• She took them to Chuck E. Cheese and McDonald's, the former without purchasing food, the latter without purchasing Happy Meals. Like all good nannies, she had superpowers.

• She never ate my food. Not that I would have minded, but she never took so much as a Diet Coke, despite my offers.

• She taught me how to Google a store with the words "discount" and "coupon" to find discount codes before making an online purchase.

• To this day, I still consult her before getting any new cell phone deal.

• She chit-chatted with me at the beginning and end of every shift, and she never sulked or had a bad attitude. I was right about her, she was someone who could say what was on her mind. She was mature. We became friends.

• She worked late every time I asked her to, and showed up for extra shifts every time I called her in a pinch.

• She worked when my kids had head colds -- big snotty noses -- and never batted an eyelash. ("I wash my hands a lot," she said with a smile.)

• Snow storms never prevented her from getting here. It was as if she had chains on her tires or a plow attached to her bumper.

• She often gave the boys used toys and books from her house or that she picked up at yard sales. Other days, she'd bring a special game just for the day.

• She was kind, yet stern. She didn't let my boys get away with too much, but she had fun with them.

• When we invited her to the boys' birthday parties at their request, God love her, she came.

• My boys adored her. They still do.

Like all good things, Sheri's tenure with us came to an end. It was one year later, the fall that her daughter started school. The kindergarten schedule was awkward, and would make it hard for her to work mornings, which is what I needed. She also wanted more hours.

The timing of her departure was bad for me, because I'd just taken a large contract with an educational publisher to write a series of essays. It was my biggest writing challenge yet, and I would need another babysitter.

A heavy pit of fear settled in my stomach as I dialed the local newspaper to place my ad.

I would need another babysitter.