Flashback Friday-Dagmar

Me, Ash and TyTy with Dagmar on Lake Michigan

I think that one of the best things my mom did when I was a kid was to have Au Pairs.  My mom was single and worked her butt off and needed the help.  By doing this, we always had a "nanny" to take care of us when she wasn't there.  I haven't traveled the world, but by having these women in my life, I feel like part of it was brought to me.  It taught me that people are different and it doesn't make them weird.  It also made me want to travel.  (When my kids grow up, maybe I will.)

Our very first Au Pair was Dagmar from Germany; she was my favorite and was never replaced.  We had François from France, who put mustard on her Cheerios.  All she did was cry and smoke cigarettes.  Then we had Patricia and Claudia who were both from Switzerland.  One of them brought us chocolate.  Patricia was “the hot one” and I remember that men were always hitting on her when we were out. I remember that she loved the movie "Pretty Woman" and had the soundtrack.  Patricia had a friend (my mom’s friend’s Au Pair for her son, Steven) who was apparently a slut and party animal.  She was always trying to get Patricia to come out and get drunk with her.  Then we had a girl named Isabel from Hell, or Spain.  She was the Angel of Death and I hated her.  She wasn't with us long because she hit us.  I had nightmares about her.  Yasmine from Haiti was our very last Au Pair.  She loved Jesus and used to pray with us at night.  We had another one from France named Brigitte, but I remember absolutely nothing about her. 

Dagmar was my favorite.  She was the prettiest, sweetest girl in the world and I loved her.  She was living with us when the Berlin Wall came down and I remember her telling me that she had family that she hadn't seen in years or at all....I was little and I can't remember exactly what she said, but I remember her talking about how big of a deal it was.  She was from West Germany.  I remember being really nervous the night before 2^nd grade because I was going to a new school.  I told her that I had decided not to go.  She said "But Brittany, ALL of the little boys and girls around the whole world are going to school tomorrow and you don't want to be the only one not to go!  It's exciting that you are going somewhere new!"  I remember that her accent and soft voice calmed me.  I was a sleepwalker and there were many nights that I woke up sweaty and freaking out from nightmares, and she was there for me and would walk me back to my bed when I was terrified.  She used to speak German to me and taught me basic phrases.  I often wonder what she's doing. 

I told my sister, Ashli, that I was writing about our Au Pairs today and she said she remembered Dagmar having jeans with Bugs Bunny down the left pant leg.  I don't remember this at all.  My sister always remembers the funniest little details, so I am not surprised that she remembered this one.  One night, our beautiful, Persian cat named Mozart was sitting in my bedroom window.  Our house was like 100 years old and the windows were heavy.  When we wanted to open the window, we held it up with a piece of wood, like a stake or something.  The stake fell down, and when it did, the window fell on my cat's leg and he was dangling and panicking.  Dagmar tried helping my cat and when she did, Mozart tore up her Bugs Bunny jeans.  (This is what my sister remembers about the night.) I remember my mom trying to help the cat by pulling up the window and he started biting her hand and spazzing out.  I remember my mom bleeding everywhere and when she finally got the window up, Mozart ran away and hid under the bed.  I remember him making these scary, growling noises.  My mom called animal control and they picked Mozart up and took him away because he was "ruined".  I was very sad that night because my mom's hand was hurt and I lost my cat.  I guess Dagmar was probably mourning those awful Bugs Bunny jeans.

The only thing that I hated about having Au Pairs is that I got very attached to them and I hated when they had to leave.  The night we dropped Dagmar off at the airport we cried until our eyes were puffy.  In the same trip, we picked up François.  She really didn't have a chance because we compared her to Dagmar.  I remember hating François her for not being Dagmar, and like I said, she put mustard on her Cheerios.  I thought it was ketchup, but Ash swears it was mustard. 

I think that it was a great experience and I have thought about how cool it would be to do the same for my children, if I weren't at home with them.  Lindsey has a habit of saying "Eww.  That's weird" when something is different and it drives me insane.  I would like my kids to be more open than a lot of the close-minded morons out there. 

That’s my memory for the day!  Have a great Friday!  Here’s the Word:

spruik \sprook\, verb:
To make or give a speech, especially extensively; spiel.