May 3, 2019. Madison, Mississippi. Lunch With Eleanor.

These young ladies indulge me I know. I invite them one by one to come to have coffee with me at my home. These young ladies are all friends of Christina. By now they are also friends of mine. Every so often I invite them, one by one, to have lunch with me. I select the restaurant and we meet there. I take a Lyft. Then they drive me home. I know they indulge me because they know I am learning to live by myself and I am often lonely. For them, because they all have children at home, they get a break from their heavy responsibilities and chat with me in a lovely restaurant. My system seems to work for both of us. Today I met Eleanor for lunch at Amerigo, a fine Italian restaurant in Ridgeland. We had a good time. And we ate excellent food. Half of my food is in the fridge for tomorrows lunch. Eleanor is a wonderful artist so we always have a conversation about whether or not she is painting. Unfortunately, at the moment, she is not painting but she intends to b get back to it this summer. She home schools the four children so she is a busy lady. I am always urging her to get organized so she can paint. Her middle child is talented artistically and on the piano and has asked her Mother to give her painting lessons. Eleanor this will begin the lessons this summer. Her method of teaching will be to paint alongside her daughter who will also be painting. So Eleanor will paint and describe what she is doing along with helping her daughters painting with suggestions. Eleanor needs to be painting. As her husband Jim mentioned to me, "Eleanor is too fine an artist not to be painting." I agree. Eleanor is a good friend and I enjoy her company. And I especially appreciate her taking the time from her busy days to stop and come for lunch with me. The best gift anyone could give to an old lady is the gift of time. Today I got it from Eleanor and I was grateful.