My nanny's gone christian

So, last fall, I found a neighbor who was interested in "nanny sharing" one day a week. It filled a need for us, of finding childcare for the days when I'm interning, and the family lives just 2 blocks from our house. Any hesitation I had in the beginning had to do with the other family, who seemed nice, but the mom is known as a bit of a whack-0, high-strung, disorganized, mean-to-the-help sort of woman. I know all this because a good friend of mine used to be her nanny.

But, we were in a bit of a bind, and this arrangement fit our needs perfectly. And I really liked the nanny. She's middle-aged, friendly and flowing, loving towards my son, caring, very likable. I got good vibes from her from the beginning.

Over the weeks and months, we bonded over our shared disdain for the "other mother" and tried not to gossip too much about the things going on in their house that we just didn't understand. She confided in me that she is lesbian, and has been with her partner for 25+ years, and how deep their love was for each other. I asked her advice about things relating to toddlers (she's been a nanny for 15 or so years). One day, about in December, she tells me that she and her partner have started attending the church that is within shouting distance of my house. Its known for its liberal views and is popular among the GLBT community, especially so because the pastor is openly gay. She told me, "I'm more of a spiritual person, but it feels nice to be part of a community."

I started to have some twinges of concern, but its not like I can shelter my child from religious people, they are all around. Some virulent strains have even infiltrated my extended family. So I know how to smile and nod and avoid comments when I don't feel like engaging in dead-end discussions about how fucked up organized religion is.

Then, about a month ago, the nanny requests to be my friend on our social networking site. Hmmm...I hesitated, but decided to accept her request. I was interested to see what she was posting, and come May, when my internship is finished, I probably won't be sending my son to her anymore, so at that time, I can always remove her from my list of friends.

So of course I checked out her page, and noticed A LOT of crazy christian postings about loving her new church, how awesome it was to be a new member, how she prays every day!, asking others to pray for her!, and so on. So, okay, she's gung ho religious now.

Our weekly interactions began to be peppered with her comments about loving church, my child being a gift from god, blah blah blah.

Then, today, I go to drop K off and WHAM! I'm accosted by the GIGANTIC cross hanging around her neck. Oh! Its Ash Wednesday, you say! Huh, somehow, I managed to completely block that from my personal calendar.

So I guess its now official: my nanny's gone christian. Its just so hard to find good help these days. I can only hope my cleaning lady doesn't turn on me next.