Ginny is like the "team mom" you always wished you had in Little League. As one of the senior members of the housekeeping staff, her's is one of the faces I see most at Service Area Ten, my home away from home. Although she usually keeps a baseball cap pulled down tight over her long blond hair, her omnipresent smile is impossible to miss. Although she is a woman in her mid-fifties, and looks it, she wears the tell-tale signs of age in a way that conveys distinction, and presents a soft and pleasant appearance to others. This aging adds to the beauty of her personality the same way a rich patina adds immeasurably to the beauty of sculpted antiques.
She has a keen perception of people. It's as if she can sense when being here has caused someone to suffer in someway, be it missing a loved one's birthday, or a bitter argument with a spouse–over something that can't be reconciled until they go home, weeks from now–she makes a person feel completely at ease with a hug, or something as simple as a smile and a brush on the shoulder, even a quick off-color joke.
In a world covered by darkness much of the year, it's her personality that illuminates the rest of us. Always smiling, always positive, she makes it hard to be angry and bitter at being 3000 miles from home for weeks on end.
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