When I was checking the weather over the past few days and for the next few days to schedule some flying time the low ceilings of the past few days and forecast for the days to come reminded me of this post that I wrote this winter but never published. It was shortly after we returned from our first trip to Florida for a few days vacation away from the Minnesota cold.
This morning my flying lesson was canceled due to low ceilings. While in town I decided to take care of a few errands. I had my backseat of my car filled with bags of clothes that my youngest had cleaned out of her closet this week. After dropping of the bags at Goodwill I headed over to the mall to get a long overdue haircut.
I pampered myself and said yes to have my hair washed, cut and styled. I rarely leave the hair salon with dry hair. Usually a quick cut and out the door with wet hair and back to work. This morning was a treat. It was as close as I’ll ever get to going to a spa.
Two weeks ago our local grocery store’s roof collapsed due to a heavy snow load. It has forced me to change my shopping habits and actually plan out my meals. While in town I went to the grocery store to pick up food that I needed for this weekend to feed our family and some guests for Sunday evening.
I gathered my groceries and headed to the checkout lines and surveyed which line I thought I might move faster through. Each of the lines was long so I just got in line in the closest checkout. As I moved forward in line I noticed that the clerk was a small-framed older woman I guessed to be between 75-80 years old.
The closer I got I watched her efficiency in her task of checking out the groceries and loading them back into the cart to be bagged by me later. When I was by the register I noticed the pin on her smock that said 5+. I assumed that it was her years of service at the store and asked her about it.
I said, “Have you worked here for 5 years?”
She said ”No, almost 9 years.”
I don’t usually engage clerks in personal discussions because they can sometimes lead into awkward subjects but I was curious as to why and almost 80-year old woman was checking out groceries.
I asked her “So do you have to work here or do you want to work here?” I was curious as to whether she was one of the many elderly that need to supplement her income or was there another reason that she was working.
“I just had to get out of the house” she replied. “I lost my husband a few years ago and the house just seemed to big and quiet.”
“How long were you married?” She replied “54 years”
“Let me give you a bit of advice dear” she said to me. “Do all you can while you are young and able because you never know when you won’t be able to do what you planned. My husband and I did some traveling but always planned to do more and then one day he was gone and everything changed.”
A bit of advice I plan on using…..
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