Part 3

When Boyd Dale was three months old we needed more money to meet our expenses. Not wanting to leave our child with a babysitter, we decided to work different shifts and watch him ourselves, always one parent on duty with our beloved baby boy. I’d hop in the Mustang, take Boyd Dale to our neighbor to stay for the one hour between the time I left for my evening shift and Boyd got home from his day shift at Caterpillar Inc.

I enjoyed working as a nurse, knowing that Boyd was home with our son made it that much more satisfying. I worked out my schedule so I had Wednesdays and Sundays off. We could see each other in the middle of the week and have our Sundays together. It worked well. Life changed with two full time jobs, we were young, strong and willing to work hard to build our life.

We functioned as a team, sharing chores, always happy to be with our son. Boyd would walk around with Boyd Dale in his arms singing silly songs. In the mornings I would put him in the stroller and take walks, telling him about the big wide world we lived in. It was common for me to put a load of clothes in the washer before leaving for work, and Boyd would hang the clothes on hangers and a rack to dry during the night since we didn’t have a dryer.

I would arrive home to my little family sleeping. The first thing I’d do is tiptoe into Boyd Dale’s room to check on him and give him a kiss on his head before sliding into bed next to Boyd.

Even though we were working at different times, we were satisfied with our life and our son was with one of his parents the majority of the time.

Our future was bright.