What Would I Do Without Her

For a long time I've wanted to write about an amazing woman who has made my Brazil experience absolutely delightful. Loriane (pronounced Lo-ray-knee) has been our maid for just over a year now and I cannot imagine a harder worker or nicer person to be around. Both are important when you share your house with an employee 20 hours a week.

 

In addition to what you'd expect, like cleaning the bathrooms, (hand) mopping the floor (every single day), washing windows, and changing the sheets, she also collects and takes out the garbage daily, organizes closets, dusts and polishes furniture, cleans out the fridge, makes us beans and rice every Friday, waters the plants, washes, hangs out clothes and irons anything we let her (which in our case does not include underwear!), takes care of children as needed, gets a short napper back to sleep, brings us fruit, answers questions, helps me with my Portuguese, helps us with D's homework, scrubs the sidewalk and driveway weekly, picks up toys, and overall is the best conversation partner I could ask for.  Because if you know me, you know I cannot be in a house with someone for 4 hours a day and not talk their head off.  I am attributing a majority of my Portuguese fluency to daily conversations with her.  

 

Lorine has 3 grown kids (only one of whom is living locally) and is married to a John Deere employee.  While I don't know for sure, I assume he is a factory worker.  She doesn't talk a lot about herself.  We have a good time comparing household practices, recipes and habits between the US and Brazil.  She's a great resource to help with school costumes.  She always knows who I can call to get something fixed or where I can find a supply I need.  Once I showed her a sweater I had caught on a nail and it started to unravel.  She took it home and brought it back repaired.  When she started working for us we had an empty flower pot.  It now has 3 different plants thriving in it.  She's planted our garden with green onions, peppers, and squash.  She brings me produce from her own garden.  She knows when to cut a plant back so it will bloom again.  She has introduced us to more fruits than I knew existed, and all of them she picked at home or on her daily walk to our house.  She has babysat for us in the evening when needed.  Although she is kind to all of our kids, she and H have a special relationship.  H stays with her while I am at my Portuguese lessons 3 days a week.  They go for walks, pick me flowers, have a snack, usually some fruit Loraine brought.  They play a little game of chase or tickles every day.  She is not yet a grandma (and I can tell she's a little miffed about how long it's taking) but she's going to be a great one when the time comes.

 

I have to wonder what she thinks, we must be a strange crew for her to work for.  Half of the time we're speaking English, which she doesn't understand.  Even when we speak Portuguese, she must think us an unusual family (we don't want our underwear ironed).  I am sure she cannot fathom how we have come to own so many things...so many clothes, so many toys, so many pillows and blankets, so many books...and books...and books.  There is a lot about us that must seem unusual to a relatively simple person such as she.  But she is kind and gracious and loves to teach and share.

 

She works very hard.  She comes early and stays late just about every day.  She has never asked for a raise (though we try to pay her well).  She likes to leave things "just so" and Mondays are my absolute favorite day of the week.  After the weekend of a bit of chaos in our house, I love walking in after picking up the kids from school and noticing anew the windows clear of fingerprints and smudges, clean floor, clutter-free living room with the throw pillows all arranged just so.

 

I am really going to miss her when we move back.  I will miss the help in the house, for sure.  Not that I don't do any house work here, but let's just say I hope I remember how to clean a toilet.  But I will also miss the friendship.  Brazilians told me you need to be careful not to get too friendly with your household help.  They are a different class here, and are usually treated as such.  They are ignored unless there is something you need to tell them.  It's just not in my personality.  She's my friend, the Brazilian I have spent the most hours with while we've lived here.  I can't imagine my life here without her.....a messier, more frazzled life for certain, but a lonely one too.