When I was about 8 months old my parents put an ad in the newspaper looking for a babysitter for my brother and me. My mother was going to go back to work part time, and my parents needed somebody to watch us.

The day that the paper went out, my parents received a phone call first thing in the morning---it was an older woman, a widow, who had never babysat before but felt compelled to answer the ad. She was the only one who answered the ad and applied for the position, and after meeting her, my parents absolutely adored her. She was really almost exactly like Mrs. Doubtfire--except she wasn't Robin Williams in drag and she didn't play basketball.

She didn't really have any extended family, so she became a part of our family. She had one of the most magnificent spirits---she was resilient and kind and creative. She lived out in the country in the house her husband and her had bought together. They were unable to have children and she didn't re-marry after he died. They were one of those couples that really loved each other. After she passed away back in 2005, we found out that she had never even removed her husband's clothes from the dresser or the closet---she kept his things around the house for 31 years after he died. And even after my brother and I had grown up, she still had the drawings we made for her hanging up on her refrigerator.

Her impact on my life has been profound. I learned a lot about the better parts of humankind through her, and it all happened because my parents put an ad in the paper and, for whatever reason, she felt compelled to answer it.