The grass grows greenest right under Ruth Ann Burton’s feet.
Some constantly search for a life on the other side of the horizon.
Not Ruth Ann.
Consider this: Ruth Ann lives near Somerset with her husband Jeff and four children. Ruth Ann has never lived anywhere except Somerset, aside from two years when she lived in the dorm at Richmond’s Eastern Kentucky University. Still, she returned to Somerset every weekend.
Her parents live a mile away. Jeff’s parents live just seven miles away. Ruth and Jeff started dating during their senior year in high school year, and married seven years later.
They stick to the region for family vacations, and she has never traveled outside the U.S.
So why does Ruth Ann feel so comfortable staying put?
“Other places or other people can’t make you happy,” she says confidently. “That is why I believe that happiness is a choice. You can make yourself miserable wherever you are or you can make yourself happy. You choose to be happy.”
Don’t misunderstand. Her life comes with challenges.
She leads a hectic life, so hectic that a daily shower provides the only time she has to herself.
Jeff took a promotion from state probation officer to the director of county jails for the state Department of Corrections. That means a daily 96-mile, almost two-hour commute — each way — to Frankfort. So, Ruth Ann inherited a large share of minding the kids, work, church work and other activities.
Her youngest, Olivia, was born with Down syndrome, adding another challenging dimension to her life.
But Ruth Ann believes that among all her children Olivia provides “the unexpected, the little things that make us laugh. Who is perfect? Olivia teaches my other children to look past the imperfections and accept one another.”
And Ruth Ann struggles with big changes all parents face. She is not always in control.
Kids grow up.
Her eldest, Marissa is a breath away from turning 17 and just got her driver’s license. She’s feeling her freedom. John Blake is only 12, but Ruth Ann feels his growing independence, too.
This kind of scares her. She’s used to the comfort of holding the control, and now her eldest two wrestle with her for that.
To find a “center” internally that Somerset provides externally, she reaffirms a lifelong strategy — accepting that she really is not in control and nothing needs fixing. Challenges represent God’s gift for deep learning, she says. Lesson’s learned get passed on to someone facing similar tests.
Baptist to Buddhist, all faiths speak to a deep yearning for peace and contentment.
Ruth Ann? She wouldn’t be content anywhere else doing anything else.
Looking down at her feet, Ruth Ann sees nothing but green.
