The Help

I don't know how many of you have read " the Help" by Kathryn Stockett. It's mainly a "woman's" book, set in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960's. I thoroughly enjoyed it because even though we were poor we did have "help".

A lady named Geneva who had worked for my Memphis cousins was moving to St. Louis where I lived with my mother and grandmother. My grandmother hired her to do housecleaning and ironing ( remember everything was ironed in those days) and some babysitting because I remember being under Geneva's care at times.

One quite cool morning I was in front of our apartment playing and Geneva yelled down to me to come get a sweater. " No, No, Geneva, I'm not cold" . She called again and again. Finally, I went over to the window and Geneva dropped a sweater to me from our 2nd floor apt and I put it on. It felt so warm and nice and I felt the security and protection of someone that has stayed with me my whole life.

As I've said before , my grandmother,Mimi, loved putting people together. She got Geneva so many jobs that she didn't have time to work for us.

Geneva worked her whole life. I last saw her in 1993, when she was still working at around age 70.

Opposites Attract??

I think if you are married or to be PC with a SO, you are almost bound to be with someone the opposite of you in so many ways. Early bird- night owl, always hot- always cold, always early- always late, order-helter skelter, quiet- loud, fill gas tank at half empty- drive into the gas station on fumes, scientific- arty,toothpaste bottom squeezer- top squeezer, neatnik- messy, collector- disposer. Some people can even handle being of opposite political parties, religions, races. I guess you just have to chalk it up to the Mystery of it All.

March Madness - Taxes and Tourney

Just like the weather, Norm and I always went round and round in March. I always wanted to get the taxes done ASAP because we always got money back and he always wanted to be in the car in the line at the post office on April 15th. When we were first married, I was kind of amused when we had to drive our taxes to St. Paul. Needless to say this amusement ebbed over the years.My anxiety grew because he wouldn't let me help but put it off until the last possible moment. He always liked to be organizing the paperwork while listening to the Masters golf tournament. ( Did I happen to mention that our lives revolved around sports?) More on these opposing forces later.

The other March excitement is, of course, the NCAA basketball tournament. It is my favorite sporting event of the year. We organized many pools and filled in many charts over the years and actually had one of the worst fights of our marriage over the bracket. Doesn't everyone fight about the NCAA bracket? Of course, this year I wish I could fight with him about it and drive with him to the post office on April 15th.