Elite Nanny (eBook)

Simple Solutions to Parenting Nightmares

Maxine Whitfield (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2017 | 1. Auflage
200 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-77277-129-9 (ISBN)

Do you ever have a day as a parent where things don't go exactly as planned? Tantrums, sleepless nights, teething, potty training and food challenges? The ELITE NANNY offers parenting tips that will CHANGE YOUR LIFE! This book is a unique story about overcoming adversity and shaping the future of the next generation written in an easy to read style that is enteraining and informative.

CHAPTER ONE

Up, Up & Away

At age nineteen, I thought I had it all worked out. I was living away from home and completely independent of my parents. I had moved from Timaru where I grew up, to the largest city in the South Island, and I had a secure full-time position working in a hotel. One day at work when we were sitting in the break room, my friend Chris had a bright idea. He was always going on and on about how great America was, and planned on going back to visit sometime next year. His bright idea was to have us meet him and travel across America in a camper van. My best friend at the time was sitting with me and we both thought Chris’s idea was brilliant. Renting a camper van and high-tailing it around America. What more could a girl ask for?! It all sounded fantastic and the more we talked about it, the more excited we got.

Kate and I started planning and saving our money. Kate’s mum kindly offered to have me move in with them so I could save my rent money and get ahead financially. They had a huge house with only the two of them living in it, so having me to stay was no problem. As the weeks went by, Kate met a guy and started spending a lot of time with him. I could tell she liked him but I never imagined she would make any changes to the plans we had talked about for over a month, so you can imagine my disappointment when suddenly I got a phone call from Kate to say she was calling it off. She would not be going with me to America!

As the details came out I realized Kate had been secretly dating my friend Keri’s sister's boyfriend. This was quite a combo and I watched as this guy continued to string both girls along. It is hard to imagine what you will do for love when you are a teenager but I do know this; it was a fight to the bitter end. Things got crazy and the friendship between Kate and me came to an end. I let Chris know I wasn’t about to give up on the trip just because Kate had other plans, and he agreed. We had talked about America many times and I was mentally committed; we both were, and more importantly, excited. I still wanted to go and he still planned on heading out to L.A. later in the year. We kept up the momentum even though the idea of taking the camper van road trip across America was fading into a more realistic sightseeing trip. Changing the group dynamic took a minute for us to adjust to. There is a big difference between friends on a road trip together and the boy/girl adventure. No doubt you will find out this change created a very different scenario.

After Kate told me she wasn’t going, my relationship with Chris went to a new dimension. The original plan was that I would go and live with Kate at her parents’ house for free so that I could save my rent money for my ticket. With the friendship going bust and Kate no longer joining us, I had nowhere to live. I had given notice at my current place weeks ago and my flatmate had somebody ready to move in. I had to be out in a week. I called Chris and after our conversation, thinking it over and more conversation, I packed up my things and moved in with him in his two-bedroom apartment.

At first I stayed in the second bedroom but it wasn’t long until we were together living as boyfriend and girlfriend. We saved and talked a lot about the trip, divided the rent, cleaned the apartment and ate meals together. Well, a little less cleaning by Chris. After looking at my goals financially it was obvious to me, as a waitress in New Zealand, that the price of the ticket to America was going to be a huge expense. It seemed like a longterm plan at best but I was determined. I started saving as much as I could and visited a travel agency to talk to them about tickets and pricing. I was told that to get into America I would need to have a ticket out. This was important for immigration reasons. I also learnt that the return ticket was extremely expensive. Much more than I had anticipated.

On hearing this news I must have looked deflated because, after telling me the ticket price, the travel agent went straight on to explaining some alternatives, and gave me a great idea of how to get the price down. She suggested I buy a one-way ticket in and out of the country; for example, if I got a ticket to London with a stop off in L.A. and if I purchased it while a sale was on, I could cut the cost down to under $2000. I calculated that if I saved $1500 for a ticket and about $100 for travel insurance I could get there; I just needed to stop all socializing and work extra shifts. Looking at my income I knew in reality it could take me a year to get the money together but I had to give it a try. That was until Friday when fate stepped in and turned everything around, giving me the perfect chance to leave New Zealand.

Bang! It was the beginning of the weekend and I was driving to work when a car came out of nowhere at a four-way intersection. I had my friend Jonathan with me and I clearly remember him telling me to take my hands and feet off everything. I did what he said and immediately felt the impact of a car right into the side of me. Wow! I was knocked around all over the place and lost all sense of direction. The man driving the other car was in his seventies and for whatever reason he had run the red light, colliding straight into me. On impact, his car swerved, drove off the road and hit a tree. He was very shaken up and vomiting everywhere. My car had spun around at least once and came to a standstill in the middle of the road. It all happened in seconds.

After the accident I was down. What the heck! Now I had no car and it seemed like a huge setback. I had no way of getting to and from work and it wasn’t an easy drive. I lived in Papanui and my job was way out by the airport. I called Keri and she came to pick me up. I was shaken and my neck hurt. Then a headache started. You might think I would take the night off of work, but no; I wasn’t about to lose eight hours pay. No way! I went in and finished my shift and went home to figure things out. Chris was out of town that day but I talked to him on the phone and he was compassionate about it all, and happy that I was all right, but I was on my own with how to solve my transport problems.

The next day I woke up to some serious whiplash. I took a few painkillers and rested my neck. I had to make phone calls to the insurance companies and call the car yard where my car had been towed. It was a long, grueling process, especially because I was in pain and aching all over. After the phone calls I lay on the floor in the living room and took in a deep breath. Ah. I felt I was running uphill. As I lay there my eye caught sight of my 10-speed sitting against the wall. I used to bike to school when I was in high school but I hadn’t done much cycling lately. My shift at the hotel was from 3:00 p.m. until midnight so if I took the bike I would be biking home in the dark. Then there would be days when it was raining. Could biking to work really be an option? It was less than 5 miles each way and definitely cost-efficient. As I lay there on the floor it made more and more sense to use the bike. By the time I got up off the floor it had become “the option” of choice and my new way of getting around Christchurch.

Once I started biking to work there were things that I looked forward to, like getting outside in the fresh night air at midnight after being in a busy, loud restaurant for hours. Restaurants had a smoking section back then, inside the restaurant! If you were a waitress in that section, you had no choice but to inhale cigarette smoke all night long. I would get out to my bike, see the stars and start peddling home. It was super quiet. Only a car here and there, and street lights to guide the way. It was peaceful, a “me” time and a journey with a purpose to get me to America.

Chris would sometimes walk down and meet me for the last few blocks of my journey home, and I would walk my bike and we would talk about our day. I loved that; it was such a sweet thing for him to do, and it was always a surprise when he did it because it was only once in a while that he was able to meet me. Later, after I took a step back and spoke with the insurance company, I realized there was going to be a silver lining to this unfortunate situation. My car was written off. Yes! The motor was damaged badly. This meant I would be paid out for the price of the car at $5500. Yahoo! I had a big car loan to pay back but after that I would have just enough money left to get my ticket. This was fabulous. I was excited beyond belief. I was really able to make this happen; get a plane ticket and take myself over to America!

The plan for the trip had now changed dramatically. Chris had family in L.A. and the big question he was considering was whether he wanted to go back and live in the States for good or just go back for a visit. We discussed things, and it was his idea to fly out there three months before me, stay with his parents and set up things to get ready for my arrival. He was leaning towards staying on for good and he wanted me there too. In the meantime I continued to bike to work, and wait for the insurance money to come through. I was also saving what was left over from my paycheck after bills, and limiting all social activities to accumulate as much spending money as I could.

Before long it was time for Chris to leave. We had a huge farewell party over at Keri’s and stayed up most of the night. We had a great time and valued the friends we...

Erscheint lt. Verlag	20.1.2017
Vorwort	Raymond Aaron
Sprache	englisch
Themenwelt	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Gesundheit / Leben / Psychologie ► Familie / Erziehung
ISBN-10	1-77277-129-5 / 1772771295
ISBN-13	978-1-77277-129-9 / 9781772771299

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