One enterprising lady

Recently I got into talking with one lady of 65 years old. She was a very smart looking lady with stylish spectacles and a big handbag and pretty shoes and she had a very commanding voice. She was sitting next to me while we were both waiting for our medications at the dispensary of the hospital. Her first question was "are you a pensioner or are you still working?". That was one very diplomatic question which put me at ease immediately. She too admitted that she was a pensioner who used to work in the broadcasting services. No wonder her public image was good.

Before I could answer  her question as to what I was doing with my retirement time, she started telling me what she was doing with her time. I would have guessed that she would be doing some charity work of sort. I did not expect to hear what she said she was doing.

She works full time as a personal driver to a grand daughter of a couple who are both doctors. The grand daughter is just attending pre school at one Chinese school.  Besides driver the girl she also drives the couple to wherever they want to go outside of their office. She wakes up early morning to get ready early to avoid being late as well as the traffic jam. In the afternoon too she waits early for the girl. She works 5 days a week and sometimes on weekends she would drive the grand parents to shopping malls or wherever the destinations of their private visits. Its hard work she said, because she has to be alert and healthy. She only has one or two days of the weekends to do her own things.

During the school holidays she would go on holiday with her Buddhist society. Her last holiday was to India and Thailand and she was caught at the airport  in Bangkok when the protesters took over the airport. They were temporarily put at a hotel and left Thailand on an army flight in a hurry at a very short notice. She and her group really had an adventure of their life!

She was collecting a big bundle of medications from the pharmacy. She told me she had high cholesterol, high sugar level and high uric acid. She too had to take aspirins daily for her heart protection. 

What I admire about this lady is that with all her problems  she just does not just sit at home but work at something different from what she used to do. She was not asking anybody for help. She agreed to work because of a response to a need. Someone needs a lady to drive a small girl around for the sake of ensured security. In the process they developed a bonding and she feels like a member of the family. Someone else in her position would just sit at home nursing the unwellness of self. I like her spirit and her attitude towards life. Thats the way to live.