Kennel for Kids?
I got a call today from my kennel to work out the final details of our dogs’ upcoming stay. For some crazy reason, that triggered a memory from way way back in my childhood. It was so long ago that I don’t think the places I remember exist in our modern world. I’m not really sure. They surely weren't available to Rachel and me when our boys were little.
As most of you know, I am a military brat. My dad was a lifer in the Air Force. As a result, we traveled quite a bit from base to base. The bases had a lot of neat support systems in place for families. In fact, there was one called Family Services. I remember that my mom actually volunteered for that one, even wearing a uniform. Family Services could provide almost everything you needed. We borrowed furniture from them. We borrowed pots and pans for temporary housing before a move, and after moving to a new base. We borrowed camping gear from them many times including tents and sleeping bags.
The bases also had hobby shops with all the equipment you needed for DIY projects and crafting. One base even had a lapidary shop. Lackland Air Force Base had, and may still have, an RV park with full hookups. We had movie theaters, barbershops, golf courses, bowling alleys, swimming pools, and recreational fishing lagoons.
But the place I was reminded of today was the Base Nursery. That was where my parents would drop my sister and me whenever they went out for social events that weren’t for families. They checked us in, took our temperature, and set us loose to play with the other kids. They almost always fed us the same dinner- vegetable soup and grilled cheese. When it was bedtime, they led us all to rooms filled with bunk beds made up with clean sheets.
In the wee wee hours of the morning when our parents finally were finished living it up, they came and checked us out of the Nursery. I remember Daddy carrying me to the car and what seemed like long drives home watching the moon following us through groggy eyes.
I don’t remember ever having a babysitter in our house. We always went to the Nursery. There was one time when Mom and Dad went to Holland for a week. They left us with an English couple that they were friends with in a nearby village. Maybe the Nurseries had a one night limit. I don’t know.
Rachel and I were very fortunate to have my parents living here in San Antonio. They literally begged us to let them have the boys stay over with them. We never had to find a babysitter. But, I think it would have been nice to have a Nursery available for times when Mom and Dad were out of town.