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CREVE COEUR, Mo. – It’s a heartwarming story about friendship. Eighty-eight-year-old Anita Lander and her best friend, 85-year-old Edna Surinsky, have been friends since they were toddlers.
Every Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday, the two have been coming to a McDonald’s in Creve Coeur for 10 years. On Tuesday, McDonald’s dedicated a table in their honor.
Lander and Surinsky drive themselves to the McDonald’s three times a week to share a meal and hang out.
“We’ve always been close since we were four and five, and it’s just comfortable here,” Surinsky said.
“It’s light, it’s airy, and over the years, we have met other people that come here,” Lander said. “So, we have bonded with other people.”
National Weather Service reports ‘thundersnow’ in St. LouisThe two have become good friends with manager Ken Kerwin, who always remembers Anita’s usual order, and gave Edna the nickname “Trouble.”
“Edna’s nickname is ‘Trouble.’ I gave her that nickname, ‘Trouble,’ because she comes in and livens up the place,” Kerwin said. “I think it’s awesome that they’ve known each other for as long as they have. And it’s just awesome that they’re able to still interact and be with each other and do what they do, it’s great.”
Lander said Sorenski is the one who played matchmaker and helped her meet her husband, and their marriage lasted 52 years.
Even during the pandemic, they couldn’t part with this weekly tradition, and found a safe way to make it work.
“We would come and we would go through the drive-thru, and park our cars right next to each other with the doors open or the windows down, and we would eat that way,” Sorenski said.
The two became even closer at school. Despite moving to different areas of St. Louis at one point, they still had a bond that kept them together.
“She’s my psychiatrist, and I’m her psychiatrist; we can tell each other anything, and we really do help each other out,” Lander said.
“That trust is there. It’s always there and that’s a rare thing that we have,” Sorenski said.
Table #110 commemorates a decades-long friendship, and will continue to do so for decades to come.
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