We end up being the patient ears for a lot of our clients. I think it's one of the hardest things about this job. There isn't a blessed thing we can do to fix it, but we hear about the tragedies and we listen when no one else will or they're too embarassed to tell their friends, but it applies to their need for nannies, so they open up to us as anonymous voices on the other end of the line, willing to feel for them.
I have a pit in my stomache hoping his little girl is okay, just has a bad stomache flu or something rather than that she's possibly dying or headed for permanent handicaps because of the west nile virus and it was almost enough to make me cry at how grateful he was at us being understanding of his panic. He kepy promising to use us again and thanking us and I swear he was really telling himself there would be an again, more than trying to apease us in any way.
Makes you think about how much worse it could be, though. I think I needed that perspective. The universe works in mysterious ways.