“I am a caregiver for the elderly. They still have life to live and stories to tell. I go into their homes and do everything from their banking to walking their dog. I have been doing it for 14 years. I was a manager since I was 19 and got tired of telling people what to do. I met an elderly lady who needed help and she asked if I could help her and I did and saw it all the way through hospice and her death and I have been doing this ever since. They need someone who cares about them and doesn’t take advantage of them. I need to be needed. Managing people, they don’t need you. I am the mother of three boys and I am a grandmother to be.”

“I am 10 weeks pregnant. This is her first grandbaby. I can’t wait. I hope it is a boy.”

“I hope it is a girl. I have been the only girl in my family for 21 years. She is more like a daughter and has made it better. I have survived childhood abuse. I was raped and had my first son from the rape. My first husband beat me, the second one mentally abused me, the third one was just a bum. No more. Two years ago I took a medicine to make the sugar go through the pee and it almost killed me. It put me in a coma for 31 days, gave me a stroke and I had to have 12 surgeries to repair everything it did. My kids were told to tell me goodbye three times. They pulled the plug on me three times and my heart kept going. I was told I wasn’t going to walk again and I pushed myself through it. You do what you have to do and now I get to be a grandma. Everything I have been through made me more compassionate. I didn’t want to be hard.”

“She is a strong woman. She is going to be a great Mimi.”