In the last years of her life, my mother was a home care worker for hospice.

Janey Schultz showed up early and spent entire days with people whose relatives could not care for them. They had their reasons: geography, jobs, squeamishness or their own infirmities. I never heard my mother judge any of them. She just showed up, day after day.

Politicians and employers often call women like my mother "companion caregivers." To the people who depend on them, they often are called angels.