“Hi Sammy, it’s Mrs. C calling. I was wondering if you could babysit Finn on Sunday from 3:30 to 7:30?” I babysit my neighbor, the one and only Finn. I do not even know where to begin when it comes to Finn. He is in second grade but has the maturity of a fourth grader. I can always count on Finn to get a laugh out of me. He is such a sweet, caring, and hilarious person to be around. The family is basically my second family. Between you and me, I secretly count Finn as my younger brother. Whenever I walk over to babysit him, I know that day will be a good one.

Once I arrive, we start off with our first activity or ritual, a good ol’ video game of Mario. Now, these games can become pretty intense and most of the time, I end up losing. As we almost get past the level and get closer and closer to the end of the video game, I end up running into something that somehow kills me and we both end up dying. Not only is this game intense, but so is our football games in the yard during a breezy fall day. We finish with our faces burnt red and out of breath. I give Finn a high-five as we go inside moving on to a competitive board game of Sorry. Let’s just say in the least of words, we both are competitive athletes who strive to succeed at whatever we do.

The greasy and heavenly pepperoni pizza, chopped up fresh fruit, and any microwavable foods you would find in a freezer, tastes like my babysitting nights. Finn and I sit and eat dinner and I listen to all the stories and memories he has about second grade. Same goes for him, he listens to all the stories and memories I have so far about high school. “So, how is second grade going?” I ask Finn.

“It is good, I really like my teacher this year.” Finn replies.

“What is favorite thing you have done this year for school?”

“Well, we have this stuffed animal for the class, and each student gets to bring it home for a week. Then, we get to write about the stuffed animal’s journey with us through the week. The stuffed animal’s name is Felix.”

“Really? Have you gotten to bring him home yet?”

“Yeah, I got to bring him home this week! I sleep with Felix every night!”

As I babysit, I think to myself how not long ago I was in Finn’s place with my parents or babysitter watching and playing with me and just being an average little kid. It boggles my mind how I used to be this girl in la-la land without a care in the world and now I am at an age where I take responsibility for not just me, but others too. After dinner we throw a pack of popcorn in the microwave and play a quick round of knee-hockey to put some time away. The aroma is buttery, warm popcorn with B.O. and sweat mixed together while watching a cliche Disney movie after our hardcore 1-on-1 knee-hockey game are the sweet smells of babysitting a boy.

“What are we going to do next? Does my mom want me to take a bath before bed?” These questions going in through one of my ears and out the other, are all questions I answer throughout the night of babysitting. The conversion between childhood and adulthood is now I answer these questions, rather than asking them. When thinking back to favorite memories of mine when I was younger, I think about the people in them. I smile when I think about this because I know those people made those memories count. My goal as a babysitter and a person is to make someone’s memory I am apart of worth remembering or counting. It makes me wonder if I will or am going to be in someone else’s memories when they were younger. This is why I have this goal, because others made mine so special, that I hope I make someone else’s special too.

Finn is just a genuinely entertaining and humorous person. While listening to his stories, I love to hear what he says. He begins to talk about him losing his tooth at school when he says, “I got jacked up on the playground.” Finn wrote this down and left it for the toothfairy. Along with his humor, he is also an unquestionably caring person. Mr. and Mrs. C arrived home, and before they could say anything, Finn runs up to his room. He comes sliding down the stairs with his piggy bank. Finn tears out his money and tries to pay me with his life-savings for babysitting him. We all giggled uncontrollably in amazement. I could never take his money and refused. I was shocked that this second grade boy offered to pay me with his own money. Finn somehow, always surprises me with these little things that impact me to be better.

After babysitting, it hit me on how fast I am growing up. I am becoming a more mature, responsible, independent woman each day. I now take responsibility for others too now. When I babysit, I don’t just think of my needs, I think about Finn’s or any other kids I babysit need’s too. Once again, I am growing up too fast, so I think I will go put some buttery popcorn in and see what movies my parents are watching to relive some memories.