Algo es Algo!

I was recently reminded about a phrase that my mom used to say all the time.  "Algo is Algo" which translates to "something is something" but really what she meant was, "at least it is something".

Mom used to work for K-Mart, but started really late in her life to work outside the house.  

I've written previously about how she practically raised the town I grew up in by babysitting numerous kids while simultaneously raising the 4 of us.  Those days were long and non-stop, every week, no vacation and no real escape.  So when I say she started to work really late in life, that is really a disservice to all of the long hours she put in babysitting.  That was really hard work and it is very wrong to say otherwise. 

We grew up in an apartment in a brownstone building that must have been 100 years old.  Needless to say, there was no air conditioning and a single heater in the family room heating up the entire apartment.

So when mom started to work at K-Mart, at around the age of 50, it was a BIG THING in our family.  I remember her calling me telling me that she wanted to get a job.  Something that my father was very much against but she got her way.  She told me that she was offered this job there and that she knew she could do it.  Here hours would start later in the evening but she wanted to save for her casita, if she were to ever to move down here as she wanted and we begged.

She worked from about '94 or so until she retired and moved to SC in 2005.  There were times, when I would visit NJ, that we knew she was working, and we would sneak up to the area she worked, and would just watch her, as she picked up all of the clothes that people would take off the racks and shelves and restock them for the next person to do the same.

It was something to see, as she greeted store shoppers with her warm, welcoming smile, while at the same time, shake her head as she picked up the stuff thrown around.

  

She turned 63 in 2005 when she retired and months after, they moved into their first house.  I was so proud of them.

After retirement, she started to collect a pension check that supplemented her social security.  A whopping $25 a month for the 10+ years of service to the Big K!

Every month, she got that check for a job well done.  And every month, we would make fun about it.  When we opened the statement in the mail, I would say Mom, you got another deposit of your big pension.   Dad would immediately laugh at the comment and say, "Hah, that won't even cover the phone bill!" to which Mom would respond, "bueno, algo es algo" and we would all laugh.   

The running joke was that if Mom had asked me to do something, I would do it but at the end would say that we would send her a bill.  One the she could pay with per pension check! 

At times, her answer was a "Sure. What do you think, that I don't have money?".  At other times, her reply was a disillusioned, "Bendito, you know I only get $25 for my pension".  

Even though it was only $25, the fact that she got that check regularly, made her feel like she could buy anything.  

Mom always looked at the bright side of things and truly was the eternal optimist.  I miss that and the jokes about her monthly deposit.