The Little Girls

So back in the salad days of our law firm, from the mid 90s to the early aughts, we hired a squad of high school girls to help out in clerical tasks. The first was our secretary Norma's daughter Monica, who attended Braddock High in West Kendall, a school that was about 150% Latin.

Monica did some filing, but then asked if we could hire some of her friends, and we did -- Janet and Ellie were the two who worked the longest. We called them "the little girls," as in "Let's order out for lunch -- ask one of the little girls."

They were delightful young women. Monica also had a friend named Vivi, and another named Arlette.  But Janet and Ellie stayed the longest.

Ellie got a scholarship to UM, and we were very proud of her. Janet attended FIU. Both studied Education. Janet stayed with us, part time, all through graduate school. She married a Miami paramedic and had two sons. She is now a school psychologist for Miami Dade Schools.

I lost touch with Ellie, other than on FaceBook, and she rarely posts, but she called yesterday to refer a client. It wasn't a case for us, but it gave me the chance to call Ellie back, and catch up. It was a delightful conversation.

Ellie has been a school PRINCIPAL for 5 years! And, her oldest is a sophomore in college! How is this possible, I asked, when she shared this news -- Ellie is all of 17 herself.

The truth was, she had her son at 22. She's now 43, and has another boy just starting high school.

It was so wonderful to hear about Ellie's life. I last talked to her when we realized we had another connection -- she worked as a teacher at a school with Barry's sister Phyllis. But she told me she left the school 6 years before, and hasn't kept in contact with her old friends.

I know what a big job being a principal is. It's a lesser paid CEO. Ellie called me from Orlando -- she was attending a national teacher training seminar.

She excitedly asked me about MY little girls -- she remembers the Ds when they were in elementary school. She was shocked to learn that D1 is nearing 30, and is married and thinking about having kids, too.  She remembered adorable and mischievous D2 as well -- now living with her boyfriend in NYC.

Ellie said hearing about them made her feel old.  She also asked about Wifey -- she always liked and admired her, she said. Wifey worked with Ellie for several months -- getting us medical records and bills. I told her Wifey was well -- looking forward to being an abuela. Ellie laughed.

So if there's something better than hearing about lovely young folks evolving into accomplished adults -- well, I don't know what it is.

Today gave me that opportunity.