The talents of Carmen Valdez

Carmen dusts, mops, vacuums, and scrubs our house clean every Friday. The part of the equation that tips the scale ev­­­en more in our favor is how much we enjoy her company. She is definitely a bright spirit.

Carmen was born in Mexico and this is the first time we have had an opportunity to hear about her years there as a girl. I had made some Thai soup and Orllyene thought it would be nice to share lunch together, and what a time it was.

As a girl, Carmen learned to wash clothes from her mother. A washing machine was out of the question so they used the local river. They would join Carmen’s aunts and cousins and everyone would scrub the dirty clothes on stones. until clean. Then they would hang the clothes on bushes to dry. One day Carmen wandered a little too far away from her mother, stumbled and got in over her head. One of the women had to grab her by her hair to save her.

Carmen’s mother also taught her the old way of making tortillas. She would mix the dough into a ball and then pat, pat, pat it until flat, and put it on a grill. Carmen is now trying to convince her daughters that they should learn to make tortillas the old-fashioned way; as it’s part of their heritage. “Only now I have a press and they will put the ball of dough in the press and squeeze,” she says.

In her first years in America, Carmen picked cherries for a living. “I loved being out side, climbing the ladder and picking cherries. It was a wonderful job. Then I had a job in a factory. I did very small soldering work and I didn’t like it at all,” she says.

Valentine’s Day just passed and Carmen mentions her husband. “He says he wants to be at my side, for the rest of our life,” she tells us with a broad smile on her face.

As the stories roll out, it’s clear that Carmen has learned the art of being happy, a rarity in today’s world. She is extremely satisfied with her life and proudly shares a recent event. “I just got a call from a lady at Peri Onions in Mason Valley (Carmen cleans offices at Peri’s several nights a week). The lady said I will be getting a raise in my next check”. Carmen also has four clients in Lake Tahoe, but when it snows, she avoids doesn’t work. She even opted to postpone her time with us when Jack Wright Pass was too ominous.

Carmen adds one very thoughtful moment to our visit; “I have never had any one say anything bad to me because I am Mexican.” These words carry some real importance to her. Good things happen to good people. Carmen has the love of her husband, daughters who are grown and on their own and has a job she is very good at. Sounds like a success story to me, and she visits us tomorrow.

Ron Walker can be reached at walkover@gmx.com