This book is a series of short stories about two ordinary women-Ruthanne and Pat-their courtship, adventures, and foibles; learning to live and play together; and living life despite adversity.
Pat, a mother of two, enrolls in community college as a nontraditional student after her divorce. Ruthanne-an environmentalist, skilled hiker, and lover of the arts-is her literature professor, fresh from her master's degree. While sitting in class watching the bright, witty Ruthanne impart knowledge to her students, Pat realized her years-long suspicions were true. The two women became friends and eventually life partners.
Ruthanne developed MS in her thirties. But her constant fatigue and frustration at the disease's effect on her brain didn't stop her from living. Ruthanne taught Pat many lessons throughout their thirty years together-how to properly recycle, how to organize a backpacking trip, how to make the perfect oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. The hardest lesson to learn was There's always tomorrow-until there isn't.
Ruthanne passed from cancer at age sixty-two. But this book isn't about illness and dying; it's about making life as full and beautiful as you can, while you can.