This past week, I took a short vacation with my children and some relatives visiting from Italy. We headed to Disney World for one of the hottest and fun-filled weeks of our lives; we greeted Mickey, Pluto, Shrek and the many characters circulating the amusement parks.

While I was gone, I made arrangements to have someone stay at the house to watch our pets, two dogs and a cat. My usual babysitter -- a trustworthy young woman whom I have known for over a year -- mentioned that her sister could watch the dogs and could use the extra money.

I met with this young, seemingly trustworthy, college girl and gave her basic instructions for feeding our pets, letting the dogs out, and cleaning the cat litter. I also left her a generous check for the week. I made it very clear that our dogs are very destructive if they are left alone for long periods of time. And, if she couldn’t sleep over our house I would kennel them. She assured me that it would be no problem to sleep over — she would be glad to. She seemed a responsible young woman, and when I left for our vacation I was confident the pets would be well taken care of.

Three days into our trip, I received a call from a neighbor telling me that the dogs were constantly barking, the trash hadn’t been taken out, and it appeared no one had been at the house. I immediately called the young woman and to my shock learned that she hadn’t slept at the house, but had gone over to let the pets out. She added that she didn’t feel comfortable sleeping at my house and didn’t know how to tell me.

I was speechless. This girl took advantage of me and I paid her in advance for it.

I sent a friend of mine to the house to assess the situation. She found 14 dog poops and several puddles of pee all over the house, a couple of broken kitchen cabinets (because of the scratching), and chewed up couch cushions. The dogs and the cat seemed to be ok, but there was no water or food in their bowls.

I cut my vacation short and came back. I felt betrayed and disappointed. This woman was not only my babysitter’s sister but also a dear friend’s niece. If I couldn’t trust her, than whom could I trust? 

Perhaps this girl simply didn’t think about the consequences of her actions, and had no malicious intent. But I realized that commitment and responsibility meant very little to her, while they meant a lot to me.

As military families, we live out our commitments every day and don’t have the option to bail out when we feel “uncomfortable.”

This experience will not change my belief that there are many trustworthy people in the world. But, it will make me work hard to teach my children the importance of honor, responsibility and respect, or else they will have to deal with a very angry Italian mother.