'SPECIAL TIME FOR NANNY'

'SPECIAL TIME FOR NANNY'

Summer time was here again and summer usually found us making the trip from Nova Scotia, our home away from home for so many years, to Newfoundland and the home of our childhood years. The trip back to visit parents, friends and have our children get to know Newfoundland was an accepted and special part of our lives. We all balked at the ferry crossing with the children so full of mischief, then the long drive across our province, but it was always worth the journey to arrive in Shoal Harbor and see the familiar house of my husbands parents, and the welcome and overwhelming greeting that Nanny and Poppy Lowe would have for us.

Nothing changed, every year was the same, and in some way there was a comfort in that. Comfort in knowing that although we were far away, our children born and being raised in Nova Scotia where our work took us, that home was the same, and the Trout Hole for swimming was there, the workshop where Poppy made such beautiful things stayed the same, and we somehow would feel grounded and a part of our families again. And the children would, each year, learn new things about Newfoundland and their extended families, and as they grew, they too felt the feeling of having roots in a special place.

But, of course, two smart, mischievous children, the boy being older and quieter than his sister but nonetheless full of mischief and pranks, and a sister who was game for anything at anytime led to many outrageous occasions over the years. Heather and John, John and Heather, no matter how you put it, they were a pair, and they stuck together through thick and thin, and pulled off some amazing practical jokes at times. One would think it up, the other would always comply, and nobody would know anything was happening until it all exploded or imploded, and the laughter was contagious.The discussion of how they managed to pull the latest prank would go down in family history, and I am sure to this day they are not beyond pulling off a great prank. They are adults now, and their ability and range of options have just increased as they have grown older.

But back to the summer day in Shoal Harbor when they were around fourteen and ten years of age. They were out and about and in and out of the house and everyone was just picking berries, sitting in the sun, or doing small chores. Poppy had passed away, and they missed his presence, but there was still Nanny to work their magic on, and she loved them and always forgave.

On this one particular day we, the parents of the infamous pair, were just relaxing. It was nearing the end of our vacation, and we were content to do just that before heading away again. I had noticed the children sneaking about but paid little attention. They were always busy doing something, building boats or making rock formations with glue, things that are still in the shed to this day. So we let them be free, Nanny was having her sleep in as she usually did, especially if nothing was planned. She was growing older, and was more relaxed when we were around, so she stayed up late and slept late, and indulged herself with sleeping in and eating out, enjoying the children and the change in routine. It was quiet and time to make a quick lunch so I was standing in the kitchen of the big house, munching on blueberries, my mind on neutral, when I heard a loud ‘CLUNK’ and a shrill cry from upstairs. I, being considerably younger than I am now, ran up the steps two at a time to witness something out of a wild movie.

Nanny was standing in her nightdress, hair stuck on end, with a startled, mortified look on her face. I could not imagine what had happened, but I managed to get her to nod "No" when I asked if she was ill. And in the background I could hear little snickers and giggles, coming from the childrens’ bedroom.

Finally Nanny pointed to her watch, and still having not found her voice, she put her watch up to my line of vision. The watch said three thirty P.M. I still did not know the problem, but followed Nanny to our bedroom, where she pointed to our clock, which also said three thirty P.M.

Then she found her voice and managed to gasp "Why did everybody let me stay in bed so long? This is terrible, oh my, oh my!!"

Then a light bulb came on in my head, and I looked into Nannys’ room, yes, three thirty p.m., and I knew, I darn well knew what had happened. While trying to reassure an upset Nanny I walked toward the childrens’ room and opened the door, and there they were, down peeking through the keyhole and caught in the act! Their wild laughter filled the house, I tried to explain and settle Nanny down, and showed her my watch, eleven forty-five A.M. She was in shock!

I pulled the culprits by the arm out of the room, and then Nanny knew. Those two small time pranksters had set every watch and clock in the house ahead by hours, just to shock their grandmother who was always so apologetic when she slept too late. Well, it worked! And I could no longer hold back the laughter, and neither could their father when he arrived in to investigate the noise. Nanny settled down, and I am sure they talked about their successful prank to Nanny for the rest of the day, and Nanny in turn told all her friends, and we told our friends and it became one of the better pranks they pulled. It caused so many laughs as they told how they crawled on their hands and knees around their sleeping grandmother and changed the time on the watch and clock, even the clock in the kitchen had been changed, but I had not noticed! They were relieved that I had not seen it they admitted. A grandmother was gracious, and for years after, right up until they lost her, she would want to discuss the day she slept away, and in true grandmother style she played it up so the two jokester thought they really did a good job on that one. And they did!!

Heather is a mother now, and will soon be thirty years old, John is thirty-six, and they both visited Shoal Harbor this year, came to a new house with a Nanny and Poppy Lowe here again, but the Nanny they teased, laughed with, played endless board games with, and tricked over and over was gone. They missed her presence and that of their Poppy. It was different for them, their parents now taking the place of their Nanny and Poppy of childhood days. This Nanny lives a different lifestyle, has different interests, I am also their mother, and I am sure and certain, even as we sat on the patio and talked about their prankster days, that their minds were racing still, wondering what they could pull off to outdo their past exploits.

Yes, they changed the time of Nannys’ day, and she was mortified to think she had slept the day away. And the laughter and stories told over the years of their exploits with their grandparents are precious, but the day they gave their Nanny the ‘special time’ seems to always be at the top of the list, and I think it will always be so. It was ‘special time’ with a ‘special Nanny’ to a little girl and boy from Nova Scotia who conspired and were caught, but the punishment was only laughter.

And I have the warm fuzzy memory of a little girl with sparkling green eyes and a sunburned nose looking at me, at bedtime that day, and saying "Mom, today was the ‘bestest’ fun of all with Nanny wasn’t it?"

I had to agree.

Bonnie Jarvis-Lowe

Nanny Lowe Number Two

Story ID:	2513
Written by:	Bonnie Jarvis-Lowe (bio, link, contact, other stories)
Organization:	Retired RN/Freelance Writer and Photographer
Story type:	Family Memories
Writers Conference:	$500 2007 Family Memories Writing Project
Location:	Shoal Harbour Newfoundland Canada
Year:	1985
Person:	My prankster son and daughter