The other week I was in at the neighborhood taqueria, and ran into the (Mexican) waitress who I know well and who I haven't overlapped with in a while when I've been in there.
She humors my attempts at Spanish, and we chit-chatted about how things are.
Then, when I asked her what was new, she got very very serious and started saying that she was going through a divorce, and the other waitress helped out and translated some details I didn't catch.
That whole evening, when she was over by my table, she was talking to me, and it turns out that she has 3 kids from age like 8 through high school, she had been separated from her husband for a year on trial, and that she works long hours at 2 jobs, 1 at the taqueria and 1 at the convention center.
I took the tack of the other waitress and affirmed her decision, and also suggested that she look into government assistance, which she said she couldn't do since she was "without papers" (which she further explained to mean that she has a certain type of visa with which you can't qualify for aid).
I then suggested that she look into help from a church for food or whatnot, since that aid is intended for people like her, and that she still works hard and has dignity, but that that aid would let her spend more time with her children as a parent.
When I left, I was talking with the other waitress after I paid up my check, and she said that the divorce news was very fresh, since it only happened two days earlier.
"She's really bummed about it," the other waitress was like. "I was telling her that the first time is always hardest, but she's still having a bad time."
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