Yes Ma'am

WELL!

Never thought of myself as being gifted in the housekeeping department, but today I worked my first shift helping an elderly lady clean her home. It was pretty easy. Her house was almost spotless, actually. After walking into her apartment, I thought to myself - what's there to clean?

It all started a month ago when I signed up for an odd jobs kinda program at school. The list of student names goes to a senior centre and they would call you up depending on what needs to be done. Since signing up I had received at least 5 phone calls for housekeeping work but never did return any of the calls. My excuse being school. On the day that I wrote my last exam, this lady called. I had no more excuse.

So off I went and it turned out well. Although... I suspect that someone else could probably have done a better job. Cleaning has never been on my favourite-to-do list. While I was working away, we chatted. As much as she needed some cleaning done, I think she really wanted some company too. Mrs. M, we shall call her, is in her 70s. She has a really bad back. And at that age apparently if you knock yourself against something, even lightly you will get a huge nasty looking bruise. She showed me. We talked about her kids, looked out the window over a drink...well she was having a drink...I just had water. A bit of a boozer that lady. She had a huge bottle of vodka out and was drinking in late afternoon.

Her small but gorgeous one bedroom apartment has the best view in town. Her children, all 3 of them, help pay for it. Don't think she has really had very much money. She raised the 3 kids on her own. Without the help of the man she married. She confessed to not wanting to marry at the age of 28 (which was quite late those days) but felt her family pressuring her. She also admitted to picking the wrong man. I had to laugh at that one.

All in all, she is a sweet lady as far as I can tell. Offered to accompany her to an event that she was kinda interested in going. Won't make her pay though. I felt bad enough taking her money today. Almost told her to not worry about paying me.

Meeting Mrs. M today reminded me again of how we all age eventually. She was lonely and said that it is really difficult to make friends here. All her friends have moved away. I feel bad for her.

On a personal note, my mum has a fear of living to be really old. She said today that 60 would be good enough. I was like...Mum!! That's not so far away! I understand her fear though. As your friends and loved ones die all around you, imagine how lonely it would be to have no one from your generation still living.

In Asian families, often the children will take in the parents as they age. Here in North America, children don't normally live with their elderly parents.

One day a few weeks ago, I remember a friend commenting on how we are not responsible for our parents' happiness. This is not the case in an Asian family, Roxy. If you only knew...