I'm a lifelong bachelor that lives like a bear with furniture. I can't  clean worth a damn.  So I finally hired a housekeeper about 6 months ago.  She was recommended by a two good friends that she cleans for.  She's excellent at her job, she does everything around here that I don't (or won't) , and it's so great to always come home to a clean house.  

I built my house (with the help of a friend) five years ago and we installed a full house audio system at the time. Parasound speakers in the ceilings everywhere with their own volume controls etc. all tied back to a central stereo/computer network/phone/cable closet. Yep, my house has been future proofed.

My office is only 2 miles from my house, so I usually come home for lunch.  My housekeeper always takes a break with me while I eat and we've become friends because of our psuedo lunch dates together.   She's my age and has a similar background, so we have lots to talk about.  Every time I come home for lunch when she's cleaning though, I can hear my stereo blazing as soon as I get out of the car.  When I walk in the house, she always seems surprised and embarassed to be caught with the music cranked.  She always tells me that I have a fantastic CD collection and she constantly rotates her choices.  She plays stuff I haven't played in years. I think it's funny as hell. Usually.

This week was different however.  As usual, I heard the music blaring as I walked in the house.  It was Cat Stephens' "Hard Headed Woman". on the box.  I've heard her play that CD before and said something to her about that as I sat down for lunch.  I could see that she was disturbed though, but not for being caught playing the same thing twice.  She proceeded to tell me about her boyfriend of a few short months and how he had been killed in a head on collision last friday, while on the way to her house. He was only 43. It was an unfortunate ice/snow/bridge mishap that could have easily happened to any of us  I didn't really know quite how to deal with this, or with her state of mind, but did the best I could.  I could see that she was devastated just by telling me about it.  I was surprised that she was even there to work.  

She always puts the CDs she plays back in their cases and back in the stack, so I don't really know what she likes to listen to other than what I hear at lunch. On Tuesday I heard her playing Cat Stephens, Bela Fleck and Counting Crows, but she had 2 more loaded that I didn't hear. That alone was an odd combination I thought, but then again, I had no idea what could possibly be going through her mind at the time.  But at lunchtime, we enjoyed that music together and I can only hope that it was soothing to her spirit. It seemed like it was.