.... and she is hard working, honest, and loyal to a fault. My teenage son got some sort of idea that she didn't have a name, and should be called "the maid". He also got the idea from somewhere that she shouldn't be allowed to help herself to whatever she wanted out of the fridge, and that there was no reason for him to keep his room tidy, as that was what Cenen was there for.

Needless to say, I steered him in a fatherly fashion towards truth and enlightenment.

Our maid has five children at home in the Philippines, being looked after by their grandmother while she works to put four of them through school (husband ran off with a younger woman and gives no support). Her eldest daughter is studying civil engineering; her second daughter just won a scholarship to continue senior high school; her son is just about to finish his senior year and head to university, and her youngest daughter will start junior high after the summer.

This woman deserves the respect (and possibly awe) of everyone she meets, and I for one feel humbled by the sacrifices that she is making to give her children a better future.