Yesterday was neatly divided into two, sliced neatly at 3:30 p.m. when our new nanny first set foot in our house.

Part one was completely governed by a couple of unexpected kindnesses of which I was on the receiving end. The first was an exceptionally kind message from odalisk which made me feel good all morning. The second was an e-mail from librarian at the University of Texas at Austin. Doing a random web search for a slightly misspelled version of the name of one of the ensembles I�m researching (their name, a translation from German, exists in numerous variations in newspapers, so I�ve been searching every new version I come across), I came across an archive there that claimed to have one thing I have been unable to locate for this group � a program book. I sent a query to an address listed on the site several days ago asking how I might go about obtaining a photocopy of the document in question without a trip to Austin, asking copying and postage fees, etc. The message I received back did not tell me what I asked for. Instead, it informed me that the document was copied and in the mail at no charge. To those who don�t do this kind of work, such a gesture may not sound like much, but I am completely dependent on the research librarians who voluntarily go above and beyond. I wouldn�t even have a research topic if a librarian at the Chicago Historical Society, where you sign in with your research topic as well as your name, hadn�t noticed my area of interest and mentioned a box sitting under his desk that hadn�t been catalogued yet. That box was a goldmine and its contents remain the centerpiece of my research.

Then at 3:30, K. arrived in a final review before hiring her as our nanny.

AJ was very excited about her arrival and insisted on watching for her from the front window. We saw her drive by twice, not certain it was she. By the second pass, though, we were pretty sure and went outside to flag her down. The roads in our neighborhood are narrow, winding and poorly marked, so this is no stroke against her.

She got out of the car and I suddenly felt exceedingly old. She�s about 5�10, curvy, blonde and cute. Except for the height, she looks like a cheerleader, which, in fact, she was. She teetered out of the car on white stilleto mule sandals, revealing carefully painted toes decorated with a toe ring featuring a martini glass in pink rhinestones. She was wearing white Abercrombie and Finch hot pants, a lacy tank top cropped well above her belly button with a woven top over it that looked to be linen and may have been a poncho. She�s definitely fashion forward. I�m having a little trouble imagining her on her college campus in Indiana. I�m sure she�s noticed. While I marveled at showing up for a meeting with an employer in such an ensemble, she did the thing that immediately made me love her. Despite the shoes and her bare knees and her obvious concern about her appearance, she knelt down on the driveway, still strewn with debris from all the wind and rain of the last couple of weeks, and introduced herself to AJ. �Hi, AJ. My name�s K. Can I shake your hand.� And AJ, who�s been practicing hand-shaking with his father was thrilled that he could actually try it out. He was instantly in love.

AJ did the honors of taking K. inside and showing her the house and introducing her to Mrs. Stein, the friendlier of our two cats, who also took a shine to her (�She probably likes my fake nails,� she explained when Mrs. Stein was walking back and forth beneath her fingers, purring like a generator). AJ got K up to his room within about 30 seconds after we got in the house � a new record. If he pulls that off when he�s older, he�s going to be one to watch out for.

Once inside, it became clear that K. is not merely young and energetic. She�s a force of nature. She talked non-stop and told us everything � she�ll be a perfect match for AJ in that way. We learned why she stopped cheerleading (a knee injury requiring surgery benched her in her junior year of high school), why she broke up with her boyfriend of 1 yr 8 mos in February (�He cheated� � spoken in the stage whisper some use for discussing events so horrible they shouldn�t really be spoken about � and she dumped him. �He came crawling back but I told him to get lost.�), what kind of cars her family drives (�All we have are Lexus right now, but we�re thinking of getting a Mercedes convertible. The Lexus convertible is so hard to find.�), where she got her sunglasses (Miami: �They�re DKNY. I was going to get the Kate Spade because I carry a Kate Spade purse but the DKNY were better. And then my mom just got me a Dooney & Burke purse for my 19th birthday so it didn�t matter.�). She�s had one speeding ticket, which she almost but didn�t quite talk her way out of (this I would believe). She also once got a ticket for not coming to a full stop at a stop sign in her high school parking lot. For this reason, she is pathological about stopping for stop signs (�I always learn from my mistakes�). I�m sure this is a good thing. She had a 4.0 in high school, but her grades aren�t quite that high after her freshman year in college, because she switched majors. She has one sister, five years younger than herself, whom she worries about because she�s a little wild -- K. follows the rules and doesn�t get in trouble (�I didn�t go to a single party at college until my second semester� � after she broke up with the aforementioned boyfriend).

My husband and I were both a little dazed by this tornado of a person. I�m finding it a little hard to imagine what it will be like to have her in our house three days a week. But we could use a little enlivening around here and she was absolutely wonderful with AJ, who spent the rest of the evening proclaiming at odd moments, �I just love K.� I am a little nervous but mostly optimistic about this arrangement. I am planning all kinds of projects with my 16 hours a week, mostly dissertation related, but also including some home repair projects I haven�t been able to get to with AJ around.

Apr�s moi, le deluge!

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