The movie, ‘The Help’ was such an amazing film. Watching it brought back my childhood memories of growing up in the Deep South. My parents had a housekeeper most of my life. The last one we had was with us from the time I was 12 years old until she retired from our family when I was at University.
Mrs. I was an older, white, country lady that had a smile as big as Texas. My Father loves to tell the story of how he hired her on the spot before even checking her references. "It was her big smile", my Father said that got her the job. My parents were desperate to hire someone after they had to fire the previous lady for negligence. I can't remember her name but she would literally forget to feed us. Mom and Dad always treated the ladies that worked for us very well but I think my terror of a brother was the problem. ;)
Mrs. I was the most amazing Southern Cook and she did everything for us. (Cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, nanny, driver, etc.) She didn't even finish high school but she was extremely intelligent and could help us with our homework. My Mother said we had to call her a housekeeper and not a maid which was degrading. She lived in a trailer in the country, was afraid of the dentist and walked around the kitchen barefoot. (I swear on my life I’m not making this up!)
The first night she cooked for us she sat down at the table with us and ate there until her last working night. A few of Dad's clients even tried to steal her away after tasting her delicious Southern cooking. One invited female guest asked my Mother one night why the help was allowed to eat at our dinner table. The "B" was never invited back to our house because she had insulted our newest family member, Mrs. I.
Dad paid her a good wage and into her social security. She didn't wear a uniform because she wouldn't dream of doing it. She bought her clothes at Wal-Mart and JC Penney. When her car broke down he bought her what she wanted (a used truck) and he always took care of anything she needed. She in return took care of us and we felt so loved.
One year my Father lost a lot of money in the stock market and he was very short on cash. I don't remember much because my parents sheltered us from those things. He explained to Mrs. I that he was giving her one month's severance pay because he didn't think he could afford to keep her anymore. He said he understood if she left right away to look for another family but he would make his money again and hire her back as soon as he could. The next day she showed up to work and then the next. She never stopped coming to our house until we were all at University and she retired. Dad recovered financially very fast and never missed paying her on time. The truth is that she didn't think of us as her job anymore, she thought of us as her family.
Mrs. I wasn't just our housekeeper she was and is a part of our family. To this day she visits my parents every year as our beloved guest. When I think of Mrs. I, I always think of the love she gave us and how much we in return love her.
