At 98 years old, Ranna is still making new friends.
She’s recently become best friends with an owl who visits her at her Scottsdale, Arizona home just about every day.
But Ranna believes that the owl’s presence is a special omen from above.
She believes the owl is a sign from her late husband.
The owl first appeared on Ranna’s balcony exactly two years from the day of her husband’s celebration of life ceremony.
The owl loves to talk to Ranna.
Sometimes he’ll sit on her balcony all day and even tries to hop on her lap.
Ranna’s granddaughter, Shai Ward, found the relationship between Ranna and the owl to be absolutely incredible.
She documented it in a video and shared it online where it ended up going viral. The video shows Shai coming out onto the porch to greet the owl.
“Look at my grandma’s weekly visitor. Oh hey,” she says to the owl.
He blinks at her as if to say hello.
“This guy comes and hangs out with my grandma every so often,” she said.
That’s when the owl does a funky little head jive.
“We think he’s my grandpa,” Shai said. “Because you know, why wouldn’t he be.”
The owl looks up at her after that.
“My grandparents were best friends, who deeply respected one another. You felt the love around them and from them,” Shai said, according to Good News Network.
What’s amazing is that the owl lets you get fairly close to him.
While he doesn’t “talk” to Shai, he talks a lot to Ranna.
Ranna walks right up to the owl and starts to hoot at him, prompting him to hoot right back at her.
“Every time he sees her, he just starts talking,” Shai said. “Seriously, [it’s] the coolest thing.”
Ranna loves spending time with her owl buddy. You can tell they have a strong bond.
“I just can’t get over those eyes. What do you see up here?” she asks her owl buddy. “You’re not going to tell me? OK.”
But Shai isn’t surprised that the owl took a liking to her grandma.
“My grandmother is the sweetest soul. She is a devout Catholic and attributes all that her life has become to the higher power,” Shai said. “Her sass and wit show that 98 is just a number… and her and my grandpa’s relationship was such a sight to see that our whole family just treasured them as one.”
Owls typically keep to themselves and away from humans. Especially the smaller breeds.
It’s a “You don’t bother me, I don’t bother you,” type of situation. But larger owls can be more tolerant of humans. They often live near human habitats to eat the rodents that come out at night.
But Ranna and her owl’s relationship seems to be a highly unusual situation.