"May I borrow your tray?" by Flo Lewis

The first time I met Ruby was way back in the fall of 1972. Since I come from the Philippines and she comes from Trinidad, we went through the process of becoming United States citizens at the same time. We met in the courtroom on the day of our naturalization and we’ve been friends ever since.

Ruby was so creative. I have so many stories, but this one always makes me happy. I bought a serving tray a while back, it must have been 20 years ago. Shortly after I got it, Ruby came over to my place for lunch. I put all the refreshments on the tray and looking at it, she noticed that it was new.  She said something about it and I remember telling her that although it was a little bit plain, I thought it was the perfect size. 

We ate lunch and towards the end when she was leaving, she said, “May I borrow your tray?” She didn’t say what she wanted to do with it but  I said, “Of course.”  I knew she was up to something, but had no clue what it was. I gave her the tray and when she returned it, it had a beautiful painting on it. It makes me want to cry just thinking about it.

The funny thing is that she never told me she was going to paint it, she just took it. Something came to her and she wanted to do this thing to surprise me. I couldn't be more grateful and that’s how I know Ruby. She can take something so simple and she could turn it into a thing of beauty. That’s the whole soul of Ruby Adams.