mrs. T

I remember Mrs. T from 10 years ago when I used to cover her route once a week on the regular mailman's day off. For some reason I had it in my head that she was a complainer ..or at least... a customer to be leery of.
She is now my customer and officially becoming one of my favorites.
We started off well. Probably because her last carrier paved the way for me.
When I took over for Brian, she was very welcoming, and I was very surprised.
The key to our relationship now seems to be that her little dog likes me. She took that as a good sign.
On saturday we had our first extended conversation...and it was nothing short of a revelation.
She seems to be one that plays her cards close to the vest..not one to disclose much about her life.. but I think I hit her at the right time.
The more she talked, the more completely blown away I became.
I knew that her husband died a few years ago after a very long illness. What I didn't know was that within 2 weeks of his death, she signed up to go back to college after about a 60 year hiatus. She wound up getting her degree at 80 years old. She plays the trombone in a senior citizen band, she's taking a music course at a local college, volunteers, and here's the best part...REFUSES to go out to lunch with "the ladies" because it will cut into her day and she doesn't want to sit around and hear about people's aches and pains. You go girlfriend!
this job really has it's golden moments and our conversation was definitely one of them.