When you look at today’s blog entry you might think, “Reed made a mistake. Lourdes was the name of the recipient from yesterday’s blog.” Well, would you believe that the very next day I found another woman named Lourdes in Roanoke, VA.
IHOP, Roanoke, VA (photo: Reed)
I was traveling to Roanoke to attend the funeral of a family friend. My father and I stayed at the Quality Inn near the Tanglewood Mall in the southwest part of town. I saw an IHOP (3926 Franklin Rd SW, Roanoke, VA 24014) around the corner from the motel and suggested that we go there for breakfast.
Our waitress came over to our table and I saw the name Lourdes written on her name tag. I told my dad that Lourdes was the name of the woman who I gave my $10 to the day before. It was almost as if it was some kind of sign to choose her. She came back with our breakfast and I asked her to take part in the Year of Giving. She accepted.
Lourdes (photo: Reed)
I asked the 34-year-old single mother of two where she was from originally. “I was an army brat!” she said sporting a big smile. Her father was in the US Army and they moved all around the world. Her favorite place she says is Panama. Her travel has slowed down though now and she says that she has lived in Roanoke for about 15 years.
Lourdes was pretty busy and I was trying not to take up too much of her time. She went to go check on her other customers and came back by a few minutes later. She has worked at this IHOP for about a year. “It’s a great place to work,” she says and comments how friendly her coworkers are.
Lourdes told me that she was going to use the $10 to take her five-year-old daughter and two-year-old son to the pool later that day. I bet the kids enjoyed that, it has been so hot.
If you stop in for breakfast, I highly recommend the spinach, mushroom and tomato omelette (I got it without the Swiss cheese) I was unsure what to get and Lourdes recommended that to me and I thought it was really good.
We closed out our check and went back to the motel to check out and make our way over to the funeral service.
Today’s blog entry is dedicated to the memory of Jean Ruth Hughes Bain, 1934-2010.
Year of Giving 
Just a popular name? It is nice she was able to take her kids to the pool with the money.
I like her choice of what to do with the money. YAY Mom! And Lourdes is such a beautiful name for such pretty women.
I know you probably didn’t have a lot of time, but I sure wish I’d known you were in Roanoke!! :-)) Would love to have met you…and your dad! I just might have to stop at IHOP and see Lourdes one of these days!