Summer days are harder for kids than we realize because when you are young and waiting to grow up and Do Things Without Permission, the hours drag. Maybe some days you go swimming. A friend comes over. You go over there. Maybe you get signed up for some Vacation Bible School and spend 5 days rehearsing a dramatic re-enactment of The Good Samaritan. Maybe you get to be the Samaritan. Most likely you are a shepherd in the distance.
But mostly, you have to just find a way to make the hours pass. You are only 7 and have little resources and even less agency.
Until the babysitter comes.
He’s a teenager and so he is one of you, still a kid living at home, but he is also an adult. He’s taller than your dad and he cooks without needing a chair to stand on. He can empty a pot of boiling noodles all by himself. He makes bacon.
And he is here today just for you. He understands the rules, but it’s not like a parent. He invents games for you and tells you what middle school is really like. He teaches you Chinese and explains math. He walks you down to the park and pushes you on the swing.
Walking back, you reach up and take his hand. He is the big brother you never had, the older cousin you wish for. Someone who assures you, the waiting ends.
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