This and That

I know I wasn't going to do a Monday's hero again but as I just finished the most incredible book called "Creola's Moonbeam" by Milam McGraw Propst - I decided to do one more. This could also be called a Memory Monday because of who it is. "Creola's Moonbeam" is about the protagonist, Honey's nanny named Creola and about Honey too, who is an author with writer's block.

Maybe because the name was so similar but the whole time I read the book, I kept thinking of my mothers' cleaning woman that came like clockwork every Friday for many years, Leola. Leola was an amazing woman. She would come and clean my mother's home, change all the sheets and wash the bed linens she had removed. She would iron if my mother needed her it done. Rarely did we hear about her family. She knew everything about ours. As I think about it now, we often made a point to be there on Fridays so we wouldn't miss her and at least get a hug before she left for the week. When my mother was in the hospital or even gone on vacation, Leola would come in and still follow her weekly ritual. When I was in bed at my parents trying to hang on to my pregnancy with Carianne, my parent left me for several weeks while they went to my sister Marianne's graduation and move her home. This trip had been planned for months. My uninvited intrusion had not been. Leola actually came by a couple of times a week while everyone was gone and would bring me treats but more often just a visit and a hug. She was more than a maid - she was a true friend. So I wanted to end my heroes and heroines on a big TaDa! I would like to pay tribute to Leola - a woman that I am ashamed to say at this moment I cannot even remember her last name - but a woman who taught me about caring in a way that no one else ever has.