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If you missed part 1, you need to read yesterday’s post in order for today’s post to make any sense.
So, now Duffy and I are both feeling foolish and neither of us wants to tell this sweet and gracious woman that we thought she was Dr. Ruth Westheimer–the famed sex expert. While that would have been the truth (and the only truthful thing to tell her) it just felt too uncomfortable and embarrassing in the moment. So, considering that Duffy is my elder, I waited for him to make the first move. He did make a move…he started to walk away and leave me with her. Here’s where we pick up:
Me: “Duffy, don’t go anywhere because I need you to take a photo of us.”
Duffy: [recovering like a pro] “That’s right! Yeah, let’s take a photo.”
Duffy had to take 3 photos with my phone to finally get one right (it’s just painfully slowing this entire process down). I’m thinking, “Let’s get the photo and leave this poor woman alone.” Here are the photos:
I know what you’re thinking, “She doesn’t look like Dr. Ruth!” Yes she does! The photo doesn’t do it justice. (See comparison photos below). Granted, we were tired when we first caught a glimpse of her, but we really thought it was. Then, when she responded to Duffy asking her about being in town to speak…we thought we were spot on. How could this not be Dr. Ruth?
After taking the pictures, the dialogue went like this:
Me: “Thank you so much for allowing us to bother you. Blessings on you and I hope your new book turns out to be a best seller.”
Duffy: “It was really nice to meet you. We’re going to get a quick bite to eat before our flight to Philly.”
“Dr. Ruth”: “I’m going to Philly too…mind if I join you while we wait?”
Me: “Sure! That would be great! Mind if we ask you some gardening questions.”
“Dr. Ruth”: [talking to me] “Are you a gardener?”
Me: “No, but I like flowers.”
Really? Did that just come out of my mouth? “I like flowers.” I had a mini, panic attack. I guess it could have been worse and I could have said, “No, but I like sex.” Now the entire way we’re walking to eat I begin to get the giggles thinking about this entire situation of mistaken identity. In between my childish laughter I’m beginning to sweat that she might actually sit next to me on the plane and ask me, “How did you recognize me?” I didn’t want to lie to her.
We grab some snacks, sit down at the table and then I loose it. Duffy caused my minor giggles to morph into full-on laughter. The first question out of his mouth was, “Tell me about Wisteria. We have some on our back porch and it’s kind of a pesky plant.” I make a sound that’s a mix between a cough and laughter and a snort and immediately jump up from my chair. I had to walk away. From my retreat location I snap this photo:
Fortunately, it’s time to board the plane and we’ve got to leave. We tell her how wonderful it was to meet her (which it really was) and we leave to board the plane. Once we walked away, I ask Duffy to quickly validate the story because I didn’t think people would believe the blog post. Here is a 1 minute video of Duffy retelling it:
We were the very first ones to board the plane (via Duffy’s travel status) and we kept saying, “We are so stupid!” It’s a legitimate “we”…this was team stupidity. We take our seats that are separated by one row and I couldn’t relax because I was thinking that “Dr. Ruth” was going to sit by me and I don’t think I can handle it. She boards the plane and doesn’t sit by me…her seat is right next to Duffy. I’m now covering my face trying to hide my laughter as I imagine their one-hour conversation about petunias, fertilizer, and green houses.
Before “Dr. Ruth” sits down she looks at me and says, “Would you like to sit with your friend?” I pause, only because I’m thinking about how great it would be for the two of them to sit together, but then friendship and kindness kick in and I say, “That is very nice of you!”
That nice gesture fit her personality…she was a very kind lady. I think we made her day by “recognizing her” and she made our day because of a great memory. Now, if you love gardening, go to www.amazon.com and order her book, “The Nonstop Garden” and it will make both of our days–I’ll feel a lot less guilty of thinking she was the sex-expert (and never telling her), and she’ll be thrilled to make some additional royalties.
If you came to the site looking for books on sex advice, the best we can do if Duffy’s book–Ministry of Nurture.
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