Real people and real accomplishments

So, today is the day that we get our house cleaned. Carolyn, the woman who runs the cleaning business, is one of my favorite people in the State of Wisconsin. She reminds me of my mother and her siblings: good, hard-working, friendly, caring, go-getters. In fact, my Aunt Bobbie, my godmother, is also a self-employed cleaning person. My mother, who worked as a waitress during "tourist season" also worked caring for elderly people all year long. My mother used her job as a caregiver much as Carolyn uses her business. Carolyn hires people to work alongside her who she feels need some direction and support. For example, she often cleans with a young woman who is a single mother and is struggling to move out of her own mother's home. Carolyn takes these people on, not just to give them a chance to make some money, but to mother them, to give them advice, etc. Growing up, I remember a great many troubled young women that my mom took on as co-workers and mentees. When my mother died, we received so many letters from people I didn't even know about - people writing to tell us how my mother saw that they were in need and got them on track.
It just seems so much more real to me in so many ways - measuring your achievements by knowing that you've helped concrete others.