Recently we had the good fortune of acquiring an amazing babysitter.

Violet Nuit.

Now babysitters can be amazing for a variety of reasons and each family needs its own special fit.  A babysitter that is perfect for us may be horrible for someone else and the other way around…  But we got very lucky in that a woman I’ve known since she was a young teen (who is now all grown up and beautiful and married with a life and everything) was looking for babysitting work.

No you can’t have her number.

When I heard she was looking to take on sitting clients my initial reaction was to jump up and down with joy that someone I know, care about and feel comfortable with could babysit K.  There was much rejoicing until I remembered the time I was 20ish and I was at her house and she was 13ish and I drank way to much vodka and threw up all over my friend’s (her mom’s husband) shoes.  I really hope she was asleep when that happened.  It was ugly.

Last night we had her come over to sit with K while Mike and I went out to watch Live Wire Radio.  They played, had dinner, talked and she let K paint her nails (I wish I had taken a picture… K more painted the nails and the ends of her fingers… but since I NEVER let K paint MY nails it was her first go and I have to say, not so bad).  After dinner was consumed and I assume after they ate cookies, Violet Nuit did a beautiful wonderful thing for me.  She decided to clean up the kitchen, load the dishwasher and run it.

SHE DID!

And then, because our lives are really complicated, at 9:30 she let Verso in so she could go downstairs and stream our podcast at 10 pm.

And then, this is the important part, Verso walked through the kitchen to head toward the basement and what did she find?  My kitchen floor full of beautiful bubbles cascading from around our dishwasher door onto the floor.  I imagine it was like a dream.

Or like in that movie where someone isn’t familiar with what kind of soap you put in the dishwasher and they use the super concentrated ultra bubbly Dawn dish soap.

Hold on a moment, I’m crying from laughing so hard… just give me a moment to catch my breath…

Verso told Violet Nuit and in my imagination she and K ran into the kitchen and Violet mouths an amazing obscenity but it’s all in slow motion so you just hear that really deep slow voice that goes along with the slow motion sequences in movies.

Then K freaked out to the tenth degree and cried, bath towels were gathered and the bubbles were wiped up.

As soon as we got home Violet Nuit told me what happened and I tried not to laugh but I can’t recall if I managed to keep the giggles at bay.  She went home and I curled up with K, gave her a hug and kissed her little forehead.  She looked at me with her big sorrowful brown eyes and asked “Mama, are the dishes ever going to be okay?”

I assured her that all would be fine and she drifted off in a blissful sleep of spaghetti and meatballs and blue fingernail polish.  This morning when we woke it was still a funny little tingle in the back of my mind.  I noticed with delight that my floor was much cleaner than it had been yesterday afternoon and I smiled.

Then I opened the dishwasher to unload it and was greeted by a brick of bubbles…

Yeah… so we’re running the dishwasher again right now.