sidenote.

totally forgot. but i really wanted to blog about this.

on friday, my housekeeper was here, and thanks to my mom (who is NEVER on time) she had to wait about 20 minutes after she finished to get paid. it gave me some time to talk to her, i mean, REALLY talk to her about just like whatever. usually i small talked with her: "ohmygosh, its so hot" "i know" "do you want me to help you with that?" "sure" etc. buut on friday she talked to me about her family and her life.
her story is actually very inspiring.

my housekeeper, ninfa, grew up in a very poor mexican family. her father was not around and her mother was... not a good mother. due to their financial situations ninfa never got to go to university though she studied well at school and absolutely fell head over heels for reading books and learning. so instead, she married young, and had 3 kids. her husband, who is something in construction, seemed to be a nice man but after a while he got into alcohol and gambling and all the money that ninfa spent so much backbreaking work to recieve just disappeared. and he'd come home late at night and yell at her, throw things at her, and beat their children. the "stereotypical mexican family" (which by the way, is RUDE). soo last year, ninfa divorced her jerkoff of a husband and now works too many hours to try and make a living for herself and her 3 children. she lives in the garage of somebody's house, paying rent every 3 days in small amounts (this is how we got onto this topic and why she had to wait even 20 mins to get paid) and has no money to spend idly. yet she works EVERYWHERE. pv, gardena, fullerton, all over the south bay, not any type of work either. more like LABOR. she sweats in our AC-less house running around vaccuuming, wiping, scrubbing but 1) she never complains 2) she treats us with so much respect. i dont know. talking to her really humbled me and made my problems and worries so insignificant. whenever i see her, my heart breaks thinking about how she has nothing but still strives to make her family happy and get them what they want.
sometimes she brings her youngest son, eddie, with her to our house and he is THE most adorable little boy ever. he has huge eyes with featherlike eyelashes and says "please" and "gracias" in a soft voice whenever we give him something. we let him ride our scooter and his huge eyes get even bigger at the thought of getting to ride an actual scooter. and what strikes me and really touches me, is when i see them come. they walk, hand in hand, and sometimes ninfa buys eddie a candy bar or ice cream at 7/11 and to think, such a thing as a candy bar or ice cream probably made a big difference for that weeks rent is sad. but she still doled out the money for her little boy. oh and ninfa always tells eddie "see those big kids? you have to study like them when you are older so you dont have to work like mommy" and that really tears me up. to think that ninfa yearns for a better education yet she couldn't have it. whereas, i have all the ammenities, yet only halfheartedly study.

either way, ninfa has really touched my life. and i hope God always watches over her and her family.