My Friend, Ruth

Please allow me to introduce my wonderful friend, Ruth. Ruth is a widow who lives alone. Her only daughter lives in another state, as do her six grandchildren, so she and I get together as often as we can. There is quite a story behind this grand lady.

I met Ruth several years ago through her sister, Myrtle, who is also a grand lady and wonderful friend of mine. (I have known Myrtle for over 10 years now and will write about her someday whenever I can get her to slow down long enough so I can sneak a photo of her.) Ruth lives just a mile down the road from me. Myrtle had been telling me about her sister who had lived in Bradford, PA for over 40 years. I had shopped many times in Bradford, never suspecting that I would someday meet a wonderful lady from there. Myrtle asked me the name of the town where I had lived in Pennsylvania. Well, come to find out, Ruth and I had lived just 25 miles from one another for years but never met until we both had moved to South Carolina! Talk about a small world!

My mother and Ruth became friends when my mom would be here from PA visiting from time to time. They went to church together, church luncheons, out to lunch, shopping, etc. Now since my mom has passed away, Ruth has, more or less, taken me under her motherly wing. So now we go to lunch from time to time. She is teaching me all the "senior" perks, i.e. discount drinks, 25-cent senior drinks at Hardees, 10% off on meals, senior seminars where you get a free lunch or dinner after listening to a 45-minute speech by someone trying to sell you something, getting me signed up for other discounts, etc. We also visit the mausoleum together as her husband is just a few feet from where my mother is. This lady has run errands for me when my legs just wouldn't move somedays. She is always leaving something stuck in my door for me to read. We kind of check on each other to make sure we have our eyes open every day, too! She stops by from time to time, and we enjoy sitting on my front porch and visiting.

So last Thursday, I saw on the internet where the McDonalds all over the country were giving away free chicken sandwiches, to introduce it as a new menu item, so I called her, and we decided to meet at 4 and take advantage of this freebie! You had to purchase a drink in order to get the free sandwich. She tried to get us "senior" drinks, but the clerk said the drinks had to be regular-priced drinks in order to get the free sandwich. So she told the gal what she thought about that! LOL Anytime you go out with Ruth, you are entertained in one way or another.

While we were at McDonalds, an older gentleman "hit" on Ruth! He tried to strike up a conversation with her, but it didn't work. She said she wasn't interested in any man, least of all a bald-headed one! I'm sure he must have heard her! LOL

I always enjoy the time I spend with Ruth. We laugh, eat, laugh, shop, laugh some more and just have fun together. If I didn't have all these cats, she and I would be heading to Cherokee, NC to the casinos! On a serious note, both she and Myrtle have been Godsends to me. Two grand ladies!!!