Have Your People Call My People....

Teresa was great. She would not only do the laundry, but she would cook, clean, take care of the kids, and take care of me. We would sit and have coffee every morning and chat about the drama in our lives. She knew every gruesome detail of my life and she cared. She always seems to know just what to do or say to take care of me. The fact that my Spanish was only understood by Teresa, and that she didn’t speak a lick of English didn’t matter, because we got along wonderfully, anyway. We garbled and gestured and laughed and cried the years away and that was how I lived.

I not only miss Teresa, but I miss all my people. There was Rafael, my maintenance and gardening guy who lived on the property in separate quarters, along with Teresa. Rafael was a wizard at not only fixing things, building things, and tending to the property needs, but he was an artist with the Christmas light extravaganza every year. Rafael could do anything! He constructed new buildings, made riding trails for the horses, played with the kids, drove the tractor and the ranch truck, and took to the property tasks with absolute finesse.

Then there was Christina, my personal trainer, who helped me set up a gym at my house with all manner of cool work out equipment. Christina would show up like a drill sergeant twice a week to order me around, work on me, weigh me, give me nutrition advice and gossip while I worked out (I couldn’t speak much since I was always out of breath.)

Amy, an accomplished horse and riding trainer, worked on my ranch. She trained and worked my beloved horses, Fancy Flirt, a jet black Tennessee Walker, and Miss Cinder, the most gentle and well trained quarter horse ever, and Blondie, our spunky palomino pony. She taught us how to ride, jump, show and how to get back on when we fell off, which happened quite a lot for me.

Jennifer, my nanny, would take care of so much, she even did my banking! She helped with homework, shopping, activities, especially during the summer. Jennifer helped me keep up with parties, the kid’s sports, competitions, and their social lives. Every day bustled with activity and my people helped me tremendously. So much so, that over time I became dependent on them to keep it all together. But, now all of these people work for me no longer. They and the horses are not part of my daily life anymore. So much has changed.

There’s no way for me to do all these things today because I’m consumed with doing what ever is necessary just to survive. I’ve fallen from the heights of my privileged life and it seems like a very long hard fall. I’m convinced I’ll never make it to the bottom, because I’m pretty sure it’s the fall that kills.

As if my life contracted leprosy, I now wake up each morning, opening one eye, then another and wonder what part of my life is going to fall off today. The end is near. There isn’t much left of what used to be my very nice life. I didn’t say happy life, but it was very nice, none the less. Things didn’t start out, for me, with security and wealth. Oh no, I definitely was born without that silver spoon, or much else. That came later and what a ride it has been!