It’s Monday morning, we groan as we fall out of bed and complain as we consider the long, first day of the working week ahead of us.
If we are lucky enough.
I don’t know why but for some reason I considered that the woman who works in the shop at my children’s school could be my subject today, I drove about the local village and then the parades looking but kept mentally coming back to her.
We don’t know know each other, we have exchanged pleasantries but she is a happy sort, so polite, eager to chat and I imagined with a great story.
When I approached her she gave me a little smile and listened to me as I explained my project. She then told me that her Mother had died on Saturday, just two days ago and she had found her.
Of course not expecting this I didn’t know what to say. Her Mother had come for a visit for a few weeks, spent the evening out with them the night before then had died in her sleep, poor Robin had found her in the morning and not in a good way, albeit gone she was in a shocking state for Robin. Her death, although she was 79 was still a shock and completely unexpected.
I didn’t want to take advantage of Robin, she had come to work as her weekend had obviously been horrendous and she needed to get out of the house to take her mind off of things.
She said that she would talk to me and kept apologising about her appearance and swollen eyes from crying.
We sat and talked and I let Robin tell me all about what had happened, about her family, her son who lives in China and how she felt about all of her work colleagues at school who she considers family.
She told me how upset she was that her Mother was in a mortuary, in a refrigerator as she put it and this was plaguing her thoughts but her colleagues and ‘school’ family had tried to take her mind off it and made jokes to distract her. ‘My Mother would have approved of the jokes.” she said.
Robin says at school she is called ‘Mumma Rat’ her husband ‘Pappa Rat’ after their son who was once ‘CoachRat’ at Windermere Prep school before he moved to China.
Robin was sad for her son Kenneth, as his Grandmother has died on this his first wedding anniversary and his had died Grandfather on the day of his wedding in Orlando.
Name: Robin
Occupation: Customer Service Assistant Windermere Prep School
1.Where were you born and raised?
Born in Worcester, Massachussets, Raised in Oxford, Massachussets.
A small town but Robin had a very lovely and extremely close family.
‘I had parents that totally loved each other, I had a set of Grand parents that lived with us all our lives, two sisters, one brother. There were no divorces in my whole family.’ ‘We had fights but you work through it, we were bought up to have great family values.’
2.Tell me a childhood memory.
‘Something that I remember was not a happy event, it was kind of a sad one. We were up in Maine on holiday, a family vacation. My Mothers brother, we went on a vacation with them and they had five kids, we were four kids and my Godparents. We were on a boat, it was just a little boat and it capsized & we almost all drowned. I was only seven, we were all fine in the end but it was so scary and I am still really fearful of the water.’
3.What is your favourite season and why?
‘Spring. I love when Spring comes, because Winters over & I hate the snow and cold but I love a great Spring morning when the cold air has finally gone and the buds are on the trees, the rebirth, I love that.’
4.Tell me about someone you love.
‘My son, but I really miss him right now and I feel so sad for him. I just wish he was here cause I can’t see his face and I know he feels so sad, I know in my heart cause I know my son, and I know he feels guilty cause he’s not here right now. You always feel like there’s not enough love to give them.’
5.What words of wisdom do you have for the reader about life?
‘I see kids when they get ready to go to college and say, always do something that you love, always have a job that you are gonna look forward to going to everyday, never do something that you are gonna hate doing. There’s not a day that I wake up and I say ‘I gotta go to work’, I may not make a lot of money but I come here and see the kids I love, I just love seeing these kids and I just love this place.’
‘As long as you are happy and you have people around you that make you happy and you make other people happy, that’s all you need in life.’
6.Dreams for the future.
‘My dream for the future is to see my son back here with his pregnant wife, I wanna see them here on this Continent so I can see him more.’
Robin was so brave and so sweet to talk to me today. I can’t imagine what she is going through and hope her big family rally round to help her. she has to take her Mother back to Massachsett for the funeral where she said they will all meet up, tell stories and there will be laughter.
For all that she has been through she still gave me a smile. Tough lady. I hope her son flies home to see her they need each other right now.
Here is this lady at work after the weekend she has just had, incredible, worth remembering the next time you find yourself at the checkout, be nice, you never know what the person in front of you is going through.
