Au Pair: Elodie Bouharis from France
Host Family: Said family in Washington
It was love at first dinner: Elodie’s first evening with us, we sat down and had a nice long meal exchanging introductions and stories over of plenty of red wine and stinky cheese. I knew right away she was going to integrate into our family beautifully. Elodie joined us in May, in the midst of tremendous change and turmoil. My then-husband, Andrew, and I, were amicably divorcing, and I was moving with my two children from Charlottesville, Virginia all the way across the country to Seattle, Washington to begin a new job as a law professor. Elodie had about a month to get to know us before she became my right-hand woman, the second-in-command of my newly reconfigured household. We were in a new city; I had a new professional identity; my children would be starting a new school after attending various camps over the summer; and we were all starting a new chapter in lives. Their father still lives in Virginia and, though he visits once every three weeks, there was a lot to get used to. I now needed Elodie more than I could have imagined, and I was so grateful to have someone so reliable and cheerful and intelligent already integrated into our family.
Elodie provided invaluable emotional comfort and logistical organization at a time when my kids were sad about all sorts of changes, uncertain about the future, and desperate for signs that some things could remain the same. Her presence provided a link with their old lives. And she was a rock during moments of profound sadness: there were times when one or both of my children just needed to be held and rocked as they sobbed with grief over the changes in their lives, and the loss of what they had known before.
There are countless ways that Elodie improves the life of our family: she works hard in ways that seem invisible to my children, straightening their things and helping me identify clothes that the kids have outgrown; setting the table before breakfast so that the day starts off on a smooth note; keeping track when groceries run low. But it’s not enough to say that she improves our life. She is thoroughly a part of it now. Elodie eats meals with us, has gone on vacation on Lake Michigan with us, and will be going to see The Nutcracker with us. Elodie joined our family Thanksgiving at my brother’s house, and wanting to contribute a dish, she asked the children what they would like: they adore her crepes, and requested a ‘crepe cake,’ made from stacks of crepes with jam and Nutella between the layers. She created it on her own time, painstakingly making it exactly as the children had imagined it. I wish you could have seen their faces when they saw it. They truly love her.
The best sign of that is how much they laugh with her. We are a family that loves to laugh. Elodie is in on our jokes, she gets teased right along with the rest of us, and she puts smiles on all our faces daily. She excels at playing “tickle monster,” which both my children beg her to do. Another game she plays with them casts my nearly four year-old daughter, Farah, as Sheriff; my seven year-old son, Layth, as a Ninja; and Elodie herself as the criminal who gets caught and thrown in prison. (One of the pictures I’ve included with this nomination is of Farah standing guard at Elodie’s “prison.”) Elodie reported that one afternoon parents’ eyebrows were raised at the school my children attend, when, with a big hug, the kids greeted Elodie with, “What? You got out of prison?!?”
I can honestly say—and I regularly do—that I couldn’t do what I do without her help. Elodie kept clean clothes in their closets; she helped me with every breakfast and many dinners; she got the kids to school on time several days a week, never once forgetting the sticky-icky-all-important “Lala,” Farah’s pink-sheep-lovey-blankie; she supervised Layth’s French-language homework every day; she administered antibiotics when necessary; she made sure to communicate regularly with Farah’s teachers when my work prevented me from doing so. It’s worth noting that my daughter’s teachers specifically volunteered the information that Elodie has a wonderful rapport with Farah.
Elodie has become a member of our family. I can’t imagine what it will be like to lose her, even as I want to keep my mind open to the au pair we hope invite into our home next year, when Elodie has returned home. In our annual tradition of selecting a new Christmas Tree ornament for each member of the family, my children selected a golden Eiffel Tower to give to Elodie, in hopes that they will be able to visit her there one day. I truly feel that our family has grown to extend to someone wonderful from the other side of the world, and that we have a firm friend for life.
Elodie provided invaluable emotional comfort and logistical organization at a time when my kids were sad about all sorts of changes, uncertain about the future, and desperate for signs that some things could remain the same. Her presence provided a link with their old lives. And she was a rock during moments of profound sadness: there were times when one or both of my children just needed to be held and rocked as they sobbed with grief over the changes in their lives, and the loss of what they had known before.
There are countless ways that Elodie improves the life of our family: she works hard in ways that seem invisible to my children, straightening their things and helping me identify clothes that the kids have outgrown; setting the table before breakfast so that the day starts off on a smooth note; keeping track when groceries run low. But it’s not enough to say that she improves our life. She is thoroughly a part of it now. Elodie eats meals with us, has gone on vacation on Lake Michigan with us, and will be going to see The Nutcracker with us. Elodie joined our family Thanksgiving at my brother’s house, and wanting to contribute a dish, she asked the children what they would like: they adore her crepes, and requested a ‘crepe cake,’ made from stacks of crepes with jam and Nutella between the layers. She created it on her own time, painstakingly making it exactly as the children had imagined it. I wish you could have seen their faces when they saw it. They truly love her.
The best sign of that is how much they laugh with her. We are a family that loves to laugh. Elodie is in on our jokes, she gets teased right along with the rest of us, and she puts smiles on all our faces daily. She excels at playing “tickle monster,” which both my children beg her to do. Another game she plays with them casts my nearly four year-old daughter, Farah, as Sheriff; my seven year-old son, Layth, as a Ninja; and Elodie herself as the criminal who gets caught and thrown in prison. (One of the pictures I’ve included with this nomination is of Farah standing guard at Elodie’s “prison.”) Elodie reported that one afternoon parents’ eyebrows were raised at the school my children attend, when, with a big hug, the kids greeted Elodie with, “What? You got out of prison?!?”
I can honestly say—and I regularly do—that I couldn’t do what I do without her help. Elodie kept clean clothes in their closets; she helped me with every breakfast and many dinners; she got the kids to school on time several days a week, never once forgetting the sticky-icky-all-important “Lala,” Farah’s pink-sheep-lovey-blankie; she supervised Layth’s French-language homework every day; she administered antibiotics when necessary; she made sure to communicate regularly with Farah’s teachers when my work prevented me from doing so. It’s worth noting that my daughter’s teachers specifically volunteered the information that Elodie has a wonderful rapport with Farah.
Elodie has become a member of our family. I can’t imagine what it will be like to lose her, even as I want to keep my mind open to the au pair we hope invite into our home next year, when Elodie has returned home. In our annual tradition of selecting a new Christmas Tree ornament for each member of the family, my children selected a golden Eiffel Tower to give to Elodie, in hopes that they will be able to visit her there one day. I truly feel that our family has grown to extend to someone wonderful from the other side of the world, and that we have a firm friend for life.
