Ms. Ruby

Introduction
Today was more of the same. Several groups working on several houses. As it's the middle of the week, everyone is feeling a bit fatigued - but spirits are still high for tomorrow. Yesterday, we had the pleasure of having Ms. Ruby over for dinner at the camp. Ms. Ruby is the resident of one of the homes that our group is fixing up. Here is a mini-biography of this lovely lady that Kim and Alec K., Ed R., Ray L., and Mike F has the pleasure of working for. This is a semi organized collection of thoughts from the team.



Ms. Ruby
Living alone at 89 years old, Ms. Ruby has a genuine loving kindness no one has seen before. As Ray says, "She naturally makes you feel at home and makes you part of the family. The first day when I left, I both hugged and kissed her." Each day, Ms. Ruby home cooks a delicious meal for the team which gives her great joy in doing so. "Yea, she loves to feed you" as Alec said. These meals, the group boasts, has made them the envy of the camp. Around the table, she inquires each member about what interests them. She also gets to tell a lot about herself.
She used to be a secretary to the commander of a military base. The whole team agrees that she is an incredibly intelligent and sophisticated woman. Even still, Ms. Ruby speaks of the days back when she was forced to eat at the back of restaurants because of segregation. Her husband who she speaks very dearly of, passed away 30 years ago. All of her children are grown up and moved out. She says that she can feel very lonely at times, since "neighbors aren't as friendly as they used to be to each other". Never the less (the team claims), Ms. Ruby knows the name, occupation, and family situation of every single person on the block by heart. She also is a good friend of the mayor - Rusty. The team admires her warmth and the time she's able to spend with other people. Ms. Ruby says that life is all together too busy now a days.
One thing that she doesn't talk about much is the hurricane. The only time that it was brought up was when they were installing a water heater and tiling underneath it. To do this, they had to shut off her water for two days. So when Ray asked her if it was alright to turn off the water, she responded with, "Boy, I'd been without water for weeks during Katrina. Three days, HA! That's nothing to me." This supports the fact that she is a authoritative, strong woman. As Ray said, "If she offers you another piece of fried chicken - you're having another piece of fried chicken."
"She's the grandmother that everyone wants." - Ed