So as I was doing my daily check-out at the store yesterday, I won't tell you which one, although, a hint would be that it rhymes with Margaret, I had an interesting conversation.
For some reason, I always have a good chat with whomever is the lucky gal who gets to ring me up (the guy checker-outters are too about business, you know). So this little gal, well, she wasn't so little, but, well, more of the type that I could totally do a cold-stone with, anyways . . . . she shared some deep thoughts with me.
She started telling me how things are really hard for her family right now, that, her husband is out of work and that she is now trying her hardest to help a little, by being a checker. Then, then, she got a little emotional and said that she "has been a stay-at-home for 10-years and that having to leave has been the hardest thing she has ever done. AND WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE AT THE HOLIDAY SEASON?"
Would it have been too awkward to have jumped the counter and hugged her? Isn't a good cry with a stranger what we all crave sometimes (if it is just me, well, hmmm, that wouldn't surprise me I guess)?
Anyways, the only words of comfort I could conjure up were kind of smeared and stumbled out sounding like, "you will be stronger for it". YEAH, THAT'S ALL I COULD COME UP WITH.
I thought about this little Mama the entire ride home in my snugly warm car with Abby rocking out to her own version of 'I'm a little Tea Pot,' and the wet sloshy sound of Trent chewing his binky.
Sometimes, I miss the good moments because I'm too busy thinking about the hard ones. And, if I have learned anything in this life, it is TO ENJOY THE GOOD MOMENTS, BECAUSE A HARD ONE IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER.
Maybe I'll run into this checker again, and this time, I'll invite her to lunch.
