October 4, 2018. Western Head, Nova Scotia. Katie.

Since we arrived at home here in Western Head, Katie has helped us. She haas worked Monday to Friday, 9 to 5. She is fun and funny and we like her. She is trying to get ahead, which is difficult. Being a single Mom with no help from anyone, she is on her own. Somehow or other, she does not get many breaks. Part of her problem has to do with the choices she has made but other things are just bad luck. Her Father died when Katie was 12 and her Mother died when Katie was 19. Her sister is married with two children and live in Lunenburg but her sister has a neurological disease and shakes most of the time. So not much help from that side of the family. She has an aunt and uncle in Lunenburg but they are busy and only see Katie at Christmas. She has worked with Earth Angels for four months. She has her certification from the province. She has worked steadily since she joined the organization but now she is worried. When we leave and she stops working with us, her schedule from Earth Angels is not steady. She needs to work every day. If Earth Angels have no steady clients, they can not guarantee her a job. She gets paid when she works. Since she started working here, she has moved. She was renting an apartment in Bridgewater and had been there for one year. She found a trailer on a nice lot in Mahone Bay. I asked her about a lease and she assured me she had a one year lease and after that it would be month to month. But she did not look at the lease, which said that after one year, unless the tenant has given notice to vacate, the lease is automatrtically extended another year. Oops. The landlady released Katie from the lease but withheld the deposit. Katie has rented a place with a yard. It is also $160. less than the last place. So that is good. She is moved in. But the water pump has broken so she has no running water. That certainly is not her fault but it does make difficult for her and her daughter. Poor Katie. She is wonderful with Ken, making sure he does his exercises twice a day and chattering away with him cheerfully. But her future seems bleak. Except she loves her daughter. Now if she can continue to stop smoking, lose weight and get a full time job perhaps she will really get aheads. I hope so. She has been a wonderful help to us this summer. And we will miss her. And we wish her well.