We had Plans
Well over 25 years ago I had 2 jobs, office job by ay 9a-4p, ballet and pointe teacher by night 6p-9:30p 4 nights a week. After a few months of working this schedule, I dropped the ball with housework and my husband hired a maid to come once a week. Her name was Lupe. She arrived after dropping her children off at school and worked until it was time to pick them up in the afternoon.
She would walk in with a big smile on her face and say Good Morning, Mrs. Harper and I would tell her to call me Annette, have a great day, your money is on the table and I was out the door for work. She cleaned my house for years, yet I barely knew her, I knew other people she worked for the other days of the week, but I did not know her. Then one weekend I saw her in a restaurant, she joined me and we discussed everything under the sun including the Lord. We discussed the Bible, talked about Christian books, and prayer. That day a friendship was born. I am the richer for it.
She was married to a naturalized citizen who wanted to move back to his hometown, so off they went. When she came to our area to visit her children and later on grandchildren, she called and we would meet and sometimes for extra money, she would clean her former clients' houses during the day since her children were at work and grandchildren were in school. Her husband died from complications of diabetes and she moved back to America. Lupe found a job she loved at a Christian school. We would meet for coffee at the donut shop. She loved coffee, she loved donuts, about the only time she ate junk was at the donut shop a couple times a month.
Every now and then, I needed help with housework and would call her. After Harvey, her school was closed for a few weeks and she called to see if she could come help me, and I said yes!
We had plans to get together this year, she retired from the school at the end of 2017, she wanted to work part-time during the day, preferably not past 4p. I asked her if she would be interested in helping my family care for an elderly relative 4 to 5 hours a day, Monday-Friday. She said yes.
I contracted pneumonia in January, was too sick to talk to her when she called me, I told her I would call back when I was well. Toward the end of January, she called, I was almost fully recovered, I apologized for not calling, she said she had been in the hospital for 2 days. Her neck began aching so bad one night, she could not stand it and went to the ER. She was diagnosed with Stage 4, Metastatic Squamous Neck Cancer. She had no symptoms until the neck pain. She could eat, sleep, work, had not lost weight. The doctors were shocked how well she felt.
She breathed her last breath as she slept a few days ago. She did not suffer from horrendous pain and side effects from treatment for which I am so grateful. But my brain cannot quite comprehend I will not hear her voice on the phone or see her again on this planet.
She was the loving hands and feet of Christ in her everyday life, no pretense, no legalism, she loved Him with every fiber of her being. What you saw in her was the real deal.
I am so thankful I had the opportunity to thank her for being my friend and tell her I loved her days before she was diagnosed with cancer. So what is my point with this rambling blog??? My point is this - live out the Gospel, let people know you love them, stay close to God, we never know when we will take our last breath on this planet and the next one in eternity.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
She would walk in with a big smile on her face and say Good Morning, Mrs. Harper and I would tell her to call me Annette, have a great day, your money is on the table and I was out the door for work. She cleaned my house for years, yet I barely knew her, I knew other people she worked for the other days of the week, but I did not know her. Then one weekend I saw her in a restaurant, she joined me and we discussed everything under the sun including the Lord. We discussed the Bible, talked about Christian books, and prayer. That day a friendship was born. I am the richer for it.
She was married to a naturalized citizen who wanted to move back to his hometown, so off they went. When she came to our area to visit her children and later on grandchildren, she called and we would meet and sometimes for extra money, she would clean her former clients' houses during the day since her children were at work and grandchildren were in school. Her husband died from complications of diabetes and she moved back to America. Lupe found a job she loved at a Christian school. We would meet for coffee at the donut shop. She loved coffee, she loved donuts, about the only time she ate junk was at the donut shop a couple times a month.
Every now and then, I needed help with housework and would call her. After Harvey, her school was closed for a few weeks and she called to see if she could come help me, and I said yes!
We had plans to get together this year, she retired from the school at the end of 2017, she wanted to work part-time during the day, preferably not past 4p. I asked her if she would be interested in helping my family care for an elderly relative 4 to 5 hours a day, Monday-Friday. She said yes.
I contracted pneumonia in January, was too sick to talk to her when she called me, I told her I would call back when I was well. Toward the end of January, she called, I was almost fully recovered, I apologized for not calling, she said she had been in the hospital for 2 days. Her neck began aching so bad one night, she could not stand it and went to the ER. She was diagnosed with Stage 4, Metastatic Squamous Neck Cancer. She had no symptoms until the neck pain. She could eat, sleep, work, had not lost weight. The doctors were shocked how well she felt.
She breathed her last breath as she slept a few days ago. She did not suffer from horrendous pain and side effects from treatment for which I am so grateful. But my brain cannot quite comprehend I will not hear her voice on the phone or see her again on this planet.
She was the loving hands and feet of Christ in her everyday life, no pretense, no legalism, she loved Him with every fiber of her being. What you saw in her was the real deal.
I am so thankful I had the opportunity to thank her for being my friend and tell her I loved her days before she was diagnosed with cancer. So what is my point with this rambling blog??? My point is this - live out the Gospel, let people know you love them, stay close to God, we never know when we will take our last breath on this planet and the next one in eternity.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Comments
So sorry that she's gone, but happy that you and she were friends for such a long time.
Blessings