Happy times

When my family moved cities, my parents had interviews to find a domestic to assist with the cleaning, washing and general household chores. My parents both had full time jobs and couldn't manage on their own with two young children. When they met Happy amongst other possible candidates, they just knew that she would be the right person for our family.
When a family hires a domestic, they play a very significant role in the family, and usually spend more time in your own home than you do. Little did we know at the time, how significant Happy's role in each of our lives would become.

Happy, whose Zulu name is Bonsiwe, lives up to her name in every way. She arrives at our home each morning with a sweet smile spread across her face and a consistently positive attitude towards life. My dogs excitedly rush to the door to greet her, and she pets each one of them lovingly as if they were her own. She even generates a higher octave in my brothers deep voice when he talks to her, bringing out a softer side of him that we don't often see.

Over the years she has experienced every dynamic of my family, from teenage tantrums to personal jokes. She somehow reserves all judgement, and always seems to find the right thing to say. I have so many fond memories of her that it's hard not to list them on a separate post. One of them was the time she tried to politely tell my mom that she preferred margarine to butter, saying with utter frustration "I hate butter, I can't spread it nicely on my bread". It was fascinating to me how obsessed she got with the Oscar Pistorius trial, following the case on television each day as she did the ironing.

I can't think of many people in my life who compare to Happy. She is the type of individual that saves a soggy R10 note from my dads pants pocket in the washing machine and leaves it out to dry, and searches the entire house when I have misplaced my favourite t-shirt. She sits and listens to my drama when I come home from work, and laughs hysterically at all my jokes even when I know they aren't funny. Her nicknames for everyone are famous among our family, and her prompted zulu lessons with me have helped me in many situations.

What I most admire about Happy is who she is as a mother and a provider. She has three children, whom she always talks so fondly of, that still rely on her for many things, just as I rely on my parents as a young adult. The difference is that Happy sacrifices her time and her money to give her children the education and opportunities she was never able to have (Apartheid inhibited this at the time) and she does it without any help from a husband or partner. All three of her children are either successfully working or studying, and their futures look bright because of her. She is the perfect example of a generation of people working extremely hard to improve the lives of their children. It is the ultimate sacrifice to make, and for that I praise her at any given opportunity.

As a mother, she is also strict yet fair, and in subtle ways one can see that her children have been brought up very well. Whenever I had clothes that didn't fit me, or that I didn't wear, I would hand them over to Happy because her youngest daughter was my size. I was both surprised and delighted to receive a neat hand-written letter from her daughter a few days later, thanking me for the clothes I gave her. It's little things like these that show the strength of her character outside the workplace.

She is intelligent, kind and loyal, with a spirit that can't be thwarted. I love her like a mother and a friend, and I respect the hell out of everything she does. x