Getting to know Marisol- 4th meeting

My last meeting with Marisol was different. We went over the normal things, did a couple of lessons in the comprehension book, but for the majority of the time, we just talked. We talked about her life and her kids. She told me she has 4 kids: 18, 16, 14, and 10. She is divorced but has a boyfriend. She has been working two jobs for the past 19 years of her life. I could not believe that... I complain about having to study too much or write a paper but Marisol, she works 2-3 jobs every week and only gets about 4 hours of sleep a night.

We really got to know each other on a greater level after this last meeting. She talked to me about her past relationship with her ex and she told me how he doesn't pay child support on a regular basis, making it tough for her to pay bills. This really touched me. She is such a hard working woman and the motivation behind her is her kids. She told me how she wants to have money to buy her kids things and have a roof over their head and food to put on the table.

One of the interesting things we talked about was her two other jobs. She cleans houses for a lawyer and a judge. She told me about each one and the type of things she has to do. She told me how disrespectful they are to her sometimes and how demanding they are. A lot of the time, they don't appreciate what she does and how hard she works. This made me think about how meaningful a simple "thank you" can be. In any situation, if you really thank someone for doing something, it can mean the world to them. Everyone likes to be appreciated and there isn't an exception for that.

Marisol also told me how she is not embarrassed to tell people she cleans houses and buildings for a living. She simply said, "why should I be?" She is a hardworking woman who is just trying to provide for her children. She has no shame in what she does. I can only hope to have the same outlook on life when I am her age. Oh, another thing! She said she is 37 years old... She doesn't even look 30! She tried to say that all of her hard labor makes her look really old but I quickly corrected her and said she looked a lot younger than her age. I know this flattered her.

Next time we are going to go over some computer usage and a little more grammar. That's all for now.