A gift

I haven't been thinking about her much at all lately. I didn't expect to meet her again, especially in a dollar store.
Thankfully, I was not in a hurry. I had taken the afternoon for shopping, looking for stocking stuffers. There was a long line at the checkout. I was standing, wondering if I'd spent too much when she caught my attention. She didn't look like Mom at all. She was not pretty. Her grey hair was matted to her head, her eyes were watery and she stood kind of slumped. She had her cart in line but she was noticing a $1 sweatshirt on a rack near the line. The shirt said, "Best Dad ever, hands down." Her indecisiveness about a dollar sweatshirt let me know right off that her spending was more limited than mine. She kept stepping back and forth toward it. Noticing my eyes watching her she said, "It's just perfect for my oldest son. He's the best Dad." Her eyes became thoughtful and then, "I have 2 sons, the're both good Dads...but..." I lost her for a moment as she became lost in her own thoughts. I could tell by her face that she was experiencing one of those deep feelings of gratitude that Mothers feel when they are so proud of their kids.
Her adult daughter came to the line then. The woman introduced me and began to tell me about the rest of her family, asking me about mine. I began to be thankful for a long line. I think something inside me began to realize the gift I was receiving. Someone who could stop for a chat. Someone who saw no separation caused by differing life's circumstances. Someone who noticed me and cared about my life in spite of the busy season and the fact that we didn't know each other and would probably never meet again. It sounds funny to say but I loved that woman right then and there. We said good bye and wished each other a Merry Christmas. I didn't think to hug her but now I wish I had. It wasn't until I was almost to my car that I realized how much it was like being with Mom. I loved to be with Mom when we were with others. She didn't know a stranger. She was friendly and happy and full of interest in their lives. She could bring out the best in most people. And, how many times I had been with her when she had bought a shirt for one of my brothers with that same dreamy look in her eye. Most of all it was her priorities. Always people over things. One of the last times we went shopping together she asked me to go with her to buy some silverware that was on sale at Herbergers. She bought it after lots of dilemna. And then, a few days later she told me she had given it to someone because she thought they needed it more. I shook my head, secretly wondering why I had "wasted" a day shopping with her if she didn't even need the silverware. I'd like to have that day back. And in a way, last Friday, I did, if just for a few minutes in the line at the dollar store. Merry Christmas Mom. I miss you.