It Was A Matter of 35 Cents

Sometimes a week consists of routine happenings that bore us to tears. Sometimes a week is filled with sweet surprises out of the ordinary. And then on those rare occasions a week can be extraordinary....filled with life altering events. They prick the heart, challenge the mind, all the while giving your body and your emotions a test of endurance.

I sit here on this Monday afternoon reflecting, absorbing, 
and digesting, or at least attempting to do so. The last few 
days..what has transpired is life.

On Tuesday morning I selected from my closet the most 
cheerful skirt I could find. Nothing dreary would do today. 
I refused.

After double checking the directions, we hit the road to gather with a group of people, some of them strangers to us, the rest loved ones.

We met that humid morning to say goodbye to a friend, mother, grandmother, aunt, and sister. Bittersweet, tears, laughter, and togetherness. The conclusion at the end of the day was that she lived her life well and long. 

Not one person in attendance would be left unstung by her absence.

Charging into Wednesday, it was time to switch gears. Time to head south and lend a hand. There was a wedding to prepare for, cupcakes to bake. It took many hours and multiple days, but the task was completed and the challenge met. What is the big deal in baking a few hundred cupcakes?

Emotions once again, ran high as the hours ticked ever so close to that breathtaking moment that turn a boy and a girl into a husband and a wife.

Transition from life to life eternal and transition from single to committing your heart to another. A beginning of life, not as we knew it. Adjustments all around.

So it begins. Our life story unfolds one day at a time, like an orchid unfurrowing its petals, slowly revealing beauty.

Births, weddings, funerals and the life we live in between.

I was stopped short the other day, going about the business of life between funerals and weddings. An encounter not to be ignored. I stood, looking into the meat case, deciding how much ground beef to buy. The young man that stepped forward to help was a new face to me. I pointed to the ground beef and asked for one pound. He set to work with precision; ever so carefully measuring out an exact pound. 

He was so exacting, it was an amazing thing to witness. Through conversation, he told me it was his first day, only helping out, not usually his department. In his heavy concentration, he had forgotten to print the label before he wrapped the meat in paper. This caused the price to go up. Not much, but this earnest young man was striving to be fair and do the best job possible. He reached into his pocket and handed me the difference. It was a matter of 35 cents. Honesty and honor still exist.

It touched me and gave me pause, for between weddings and
funerals in life, you have ordinary tasks and responsibilities 
that can catch you by surprise and make the ordinary... extraordinary.
                                                              

In my case, it was a matter of 35 cents.