Long before Ann Martin wrote her bestselling series The Baby-Sitters Club®  I was a baby-sitter on Long Island at age 12. Looking back, I continue to be amazed that a family – a mother – would trust me to take care of three children [one an infant] at that age. It was the ‘50s and I was paid 50 cents an hour in a far more innocent time.  I loved the family, enjoyed the kids. I also remember I tried one of the mom’s Lucky Strike cigarettes  – cough, cough!  Not good. […]