Being a broke college student doesn't just take a toll on one's wallet, but toys with one's emotions. The good old days of after-school jobs in high school were good to me, and being at college has taught me to miss coming home at three only to leave at four again to be with my second family.

When I was entering my sophomore year of high school, I had put forth into the universe the idea of wanting an after-school babysitting job. Sure enough, the universe made it happen, as one night during the summer about a few weeks before school started, I was walking my dog, and a woman stopped me on the street. She looked me up and down, probably measuring my age and whether or not I looked like a normal and reasonable teenager, and proceeded to ask me if I would be interested in babysitting.

Flash forward, and three years later, I had worked for them every week since. My normal schedule had become getting home from school and working for the family about three days a week. From the beginning, I knew my relationship with the family would be special. From Sydney, the older of the two kids, I learned very quickly that tea parties were the best way to get gossip, that baking cupcakes could brighten any day, and that rain means you absolutely must build a blanket fort and watch High School Musical. From Spencer, the younger of the two, I learned that you can never have too many Nerf gun wars, and that the second that spring starts means it is prime time for fishing.

After three years with the family, I had become more than their babysitter, but the designated big sister of the family. The job was more than a job to me, the kids more than just kids, but my second family. Our after school dance parties, picnics, and lemonade stands are memories that I cherish, and our after-school adventures are something that I miss every day as I end my school days in college.