by Sheri L. VanDuyn
There are times in your life when you feel
you are just blessed. I experienced this at the beginning of the New Year 2008. I
really enjoyed quiet time this past Winter or time by myself in
One night my shopping venture really made me think! I returned to a linen store to check out further reductions on their post-Christmas sales. I had eyed some things and was hoping that the prices would drop again. I walked the whole store for exercise and spotted a young mother with her baby daughter. She too was getting bargains and had filled her whole cart with snowman cake molds. These had been reduced from $15.00 to $1.00 and after baking these cute shapes, you could decorate. She tried to encourage me to purchase one; I smiled and said, Yes, they are cute; but no thanks, my children are grown and I have other items to purchase in mind!
By
the time I made my selections, I headed for the checkout and in front of me was this same
excited young mom. The cashier was trying her best to check her out, but the new low price
and code was not allowing her. I began talking to her darling daughter with her gorgeous
brown curls and I asked how old she was-she had turned 1 on Christmas Day! Cool, a
Christmas baby! I told her that I had a niece, now 20 who had come home on Christmas and
her name was Natalie! All the while the cashier is pressing code numbers, calling for
assistance, joking with us! The young mom was so proud of all her purchases-she had 13 of
these cake molds loaded in her cart and was going to have a big birthday party next
season. I suggested that she could use one as an ice ring or for Jell-O. The cashier
laughed and said we both were so clever.
The inquisitive mom said to the cashier,
I can tell you really like children the way you are entertaining my daughter while
waiting for the price check code. Yes, I do! she responded. Then the mom
asked the poignant question-Do you have children? The cashier took a breath
and said, I did, but my son, 6 was killed by a drunk driver. I lost my son and my
Father in the same accident. Our whole up beat tone immediately ceased! This mom and
I must have had a look of shock on our faces; the cashier apologized, I am sorry; I
did not mean to spoil your fun and your outing while you were waiting on me, but you asked
and I wanted to be honest!
The young mom said, I am so sorry
for your loss and I want you to have one of my snowman molds-please take 1! We live close;
I will come back often and share my daughters smiles with you! She hesitantly
took the snowman seeing that the mom was so sincere and wanted to share this token with
her. She paid and left with her whole cart full of the molds; now it was my turn.
I took a deep breath as the cashier tried
to apologize for being so open. I said, Do not worry; you put your life out there to
put our lives into perspective. Sometimes we are so blessed that we forget to see
others pain! God will bless you and He will never give you more than you can
bear! I paid for my purchase and was off; I looked for the mom in the parking lot as
I wanted to say a few words of encouragement to her and tell her to cherish her own
daughter, but she was already gone. Somehow having people come in and out of your life for
even a few short moments can really make you think! This one really stunned me!
I talked to my husband everyday on the
phone and sometimes by Email when I was in
(616) 846-7926 * sheri@justpatterns.com