You ladies from Tennessee are wonderful.

Ramona from Knoxville made my day yesterday.

No, not a blog follower. Or even a blogger. At least not that I know of.

Ramona works at the call center for US Cellular.

Last night I was driving the beltline home at about 9:00, pretty wiped out, a little frazzled, and trying to figure out all the financial and car and condo stuff. And I realized randomly how much I had been texting this past month. And that I don't have a texting plan on my cell phone. And they just raised rates to 25 cents a text. And I'm trying hard to get on a better budget to make the car and condo stuff happen. And my cell phone is coming to the end of a billing cycle.

Being that it was already 9:00, I wasn't going to make it to a US Cellular store last night, but I thought I might, just might, be able to change my plan over the phone.

I "#729"ed it (#PAY), and after getting through the maze of "Push 1" commands, got a voice, or rather, a cough.

When I'm in a crummy mood, I tend to take it out on the people I love the most, and am much more pleasant to complete strangers. (Not one of my best traits... I'm working on that.) She apologized, and I told her that it was fine and to take her time. She went on to explain how her voice was almost gone as it was almost the end of her shift. And how the sudafed she had taken earlier was wearing off. Then we got down to business. A little. At least we got as far as me telling her I wanted to add a text package to my plan.

She proceeded to ask me "Did you meet some nice honey that you've been texting too much darlin'?"

I told her no, but that I wish I had! She was working on getting my plan all updated, but while she was doing that, I learned...

• how she lost her mom earlier this year to Alzheimer's
• that her dad has, in not so many words, asked for her permission to start going out with women again
• how he's (her dad) been going dancing down at the American Legion
• that she's trying out the online dating thing
• that her daughter is in the Air Force and is in Las Vegas right now
• that her daughter has recently gone through a divorce
• that she used to work construction (with someone named Bubba!)
• that she's 5'9" (and said she was tall - I told her I had her beat at 5'11")
• we both wondered why tall men always go for the teensy-weensy women
• how she was wearing 3" high wedge sandals that she got for under $4 at the end of last season

She was telling me all about this with her sweet accent. In the middle of it I had to ask her where she was a from, when she laughed and told me "Eastern Tennessee. Knoxville." A conversation with a friendly voice, who could make me laugh, and instantly feel like a friend was just what I needed last night.

US Cellular will definitely be getting a letter from me commending their customer service reps.

And Ramona will be getting a call again as soon as I find that "honey" I have to text message!