The young woman was employed as a ‘nanny’ to two angelic-looking monsters, aged 2 and 3. She had thought her London job would be somehow exotic but, instead, she found herself dealing with a young, professional couple of parents who, despite having produced two children, didn’t have a clue what to do with them. The mother’s passionate advice to the nanny was “Don’t ever use the word ‘no’. I don’t want them to know about ‘no'”. The father, on coming home from work to find his two boys climbing the ceilings with an abundance of no ‘no’ energy, would weep freely into the reluctant shoulder of the nanny.
You would think, wouldn’t you, that this situation would distract the young woman from her love for the dairy farmer. Instead, it had the opposite affect and she became intensely homesick for Australia, for her mother and brothers, for the dairy farmer (of course!) and for the dairy farmer’s brother’s family.
That Christmas, the dairy farmer’s tall, shy sister-in-law decided to leave a cassette tape recorder on so that the young woman/nanny could share, in retrospect, the buzz of that day. When the young woman/nanny received this tape recording she was in the midst of preventing and/or throwing the angelic looking monsters out of her attic window. But when she pressed ‘play’ it all changed, as she and her two charges listened intently to the voices of gleeful children opening presents, messages from each of the white-haired children, the kindness in the tall, shy woman’s voice, the gruff affection in her husband’s. And then there was his voice – just four words: “Hi Jules, happy Christmas!”
jmgoyder 
Sweet!
Ha!
I had to laugh at the no “no” part. My niece ascribed to the theory that children who were told “no” said “no” to their parents; so, we were not allowed to say “no” to my great nephew. I guess each generation has its own ideas of parenting. I rather like the idea of not hitting children though. My parents believed “spare the rod; spoil the child”.
I’ve already envisioned the face of the dairy farmer. There’s no need for anyone’s description. I know him…or someone like him.
Love this comment!
This story is captivating and beautiful. I feel like I’m watching a classic romantic movie! Looking forward to more. 🙂
Oh thank you!
Glad something quietened those very trying children. Their mother was bonkers, I wonder what sort of adults they grew up to be. Next installment please!
I wonder too!
oh! what a wonderful surprise –
I wish I knew where that tape recording was!
As an aside to the love story…I wonder how that “never know no” policy worked out for those kids?
As for the love story….. those four words gave me happy chills.
Thanks for the encouragement!
Taken right back to when you were young. 🙂
Yes.
I was taken right back to when you were young. 🙂
I still am haha!
Me too!
That would have made my knees go weak! I feel like I should be eating popcorn…a screenplay in the making right here. xoxo
ROFL!
😉
What a beautiful story . So glad you shared with me
I hope I can get the chronology right!
You do everything right, have no fear dear friend
I hope that you managed to make the children see some sense before it was too late for them.
It was hopeless I’m afraid!
I wasn’t going to read any blogs today but when I say this in my emails I had to come and read and as usual I was glad that I did
Awww thanks!
I want more!
Okay!
Beautiful story! !! Love your writing.
As for the “no”. Our neighbors were over with their toddler in our backyard, and as the little one was reaching down to pick up a dog poo….I said, “no, no, honey!” She began to cry and her mother explained, “she is sensitive, we don’t tell her no.” Now that she is older, I’ve noticed that has changed. 🙂