I thought my mom had turned time with her grandson into a transaction. Then one strange detail made me realize I had no idea what she was doing.
I stared at my mother through the phone like she could somehow see my face.
“What do you mean, you can’t?”
Then she said, “I can’t stop charging you.”
Not because it was funny.
Because I had spent the last two months trying to understand why my 66-year-old mother had suddenly turned babysitting her own grandson into a cash-only business.
“Mom, that makes no sense.”
“No, seriously. You used to get offended if we hired someone else.”
“You used to say, ‘Bring me my grandson.’”
“I remember that too.”
“Now it’s $40 every time he walks through your door.”
Then she said quietly, “I need you to trust me a little longer.”
“Trust you with what?”
“I can’t explain yet.”
I felt my irritation come rushing back.
“Then don’t be surprised when we stop asking you to babysit.”
