Reinventing Oneself

Yesterday I spent a lot of time with my old friend Mirta. We met when she became our receptionist, and, with the challenges of being a single mother, earned a Bachelor's degree, in Business. Over time, my firm and my roommate Mark's firm used her for a variety of tasks. When Mark's mother was in the final months of her life, Mirta acted as her case manager -- coordinating care for the old lady -- until she passed away. Over time, my partner Paul and I brought her to work for us exclusively, and she rose to become manager. Mirta was like Radar O'Reilly on "MASH" -- she knew all the shortcuts in our building -- who to call, and who to call upon to get stuff done. When Paul and I turned over the firm's daily operation to Stuart, we made him hire Mirta, but it didn't last too long. Stuart has a very different style of running his business, and he and Mirta clashed. Actually, Mirta clashed with Stuart's staff -- including one lady whose shortcomings, as pointed out by Mirta, turned out to be dead on... Anyway, Mirta started collecting unemployment benefits, and learned of a retraining program where the State would pay for her to attend nursing school. It was an accelerated program, where in 15 months, with intense study and practical training, you could earn your LPN. Afterwards, there was a "bridge" program for an RN. She's 4 months in to her program, and she's doing great. She's the grandma of the class, but still getting high grades. When Mirta's mother died, the family relied heavily on a hospice nurse, and that's Mirta's calling. In the meantime, at lunch last week, we came up with an idea. Mirta has Friday's off, and she LOVES caring for old folks. I hired her part time to visit my mother at the nursing home. Mirta volunteered, but I insisted she be paid for this babysitting job. Yesterday we travelled to see Mom. We fibbed to her, and told her Mirta needed to "visit a nursing home patient" as part of her training. Had I told Mom that Mirta was being paid to visit, she'd have declined. As it is, next Friday will be the start of what will hopefully become, for Mirta, "Fridays with Sunny." Afterwards, we went to dinner with Wifey and D2. Mirta's nephew is an old elementary school friend of D2's, and he was out waiter at the local Ale House (home of the best Cobb salad in Miami, in my opinion). I remember Brian as a little boy -- he's now about 6'2" and in local college -- paying his way by waitering... We enjoyed our company, and laughed about the old times at the firm, and the unique peccadilloes of our co workers. I love that D2 knows Mirta. Mirta is a true mentor to her, in the sense that Mirta's life was anything but easy, but Mirta soldiered on and on, and now has the strength and wherewithal to change careers towards her calling at nearly 50. I'm so proud of Mirta. And now she's back in our family. I asked her to visit with Mom for an hour or two, but Mirta says that's too short a time -- Sunny likes to talk, and Mirta likes to listen, so she thinks longer visits will be the way to go. How can you thank someone for making your mother's final years easier and more fulfilling? I just finished a book about a Navy SEAL. There was a line that the SEALS are the guys who clean up the crap, so that we can enjoy our lives. Many talk about helping, but some folks in life actually put in the time. Mirta is one of these. In the Yiddish tradition, we call her mentsch...