Being Replaced
After so many years, one might think that it was easy to forget. To easily misplace the names of so many families somewhere in the back of her minds. Yet, Mary Poppins was, above all else, efficient.
That is- she would never be so unprofessional as to forget the names of her employers.
Every time she left, her umbrella reminded her that sentiment could be permitted, that she was allowed to be honest with herself. Perhaps she was. That needn't mean she had to be honest with the umbrella.
It was inconceivable to her that she could ever forget them, professionally or not.
Each moment she spent with the children, the parents. Each aunt, uncle, grandparent, guardian… A story that she tucked away in her memory for another time. Not one was forgotten.
Every silly tantrum, every terrible joke, every smile, and every goodbye. The children she had seen birthed and those that hadn't been so lucky.
Mary would not allow such an injustice as to forget them.
Bert had suggested that she write them down, each story, so that she may share these individual experiences. She had told him that it was not her story to tell.
With every painting she left with them, painstakingly completed by Bert, and every trinket she allowed them to keep, she was sure they would forget. Eventually. They always did. Still, she had done all she could and that was what mattered the most.
But she didn't need a trinket or photo to remember. They always stayed with her, not one of them forgotten in place of another. Mary Poppins believed that was how it should be.