Gifted
12-15-2009, 01:50 AM
Author note: Today I had one of those experiences I felt I should write about. The message is slightly personal and while I think that many of you might not care to read about my real life endeavors and thoughts... some might find it interesting to see what type of literature I can pull off on the fly. In short, for those who care to find out a little more about the type of person I am... I hope you get what you can out of this little writing endeavor.
Lastly, please don't judge this as it's my personal thoughts.. raw and written. I'm not going back to edit and perfect this too much as I think it would disrespect the honesty I put into this. In short, I apologize if it bastardizes the grammatical laws of American English.
Gifting Grapes...
Tonight I did what I typically do in the evenings lately. I spend time with my lovely wife before she goes to bed at the early time of 7pm. This is in preparation of her rather painful exploits at the United States Postal Service who have a rather hard workload this time of year as St. Nick's personal whipping crew. My 5 year old goes to bed shortly thereafter as he realizes that the repetitive addiction known as Nick Jr is starting to show the bedtime hints and my 2 year old takes advantage of some one on one dad time as we explore the random drawing programs and storytime rituals that only a computer can provide to my slightly technological family can geekily maintain.
Eventually the younger of the two munchmites fell asleep which I whiskfully moved into his own bed before I walked out to our blue sedan vehicle and drove off to the night in search of the peaceful 10pm isles of Cub Food in search of groceries. Tonight's load was lighter than usual, as the typical high cost items are in high supply in my own freezers. Hamburger meat, chicken breasts, hot dogs, chicken nuggets and ramen noodles are all handily in stock allowing for some pick and choose moments to try and add small morsels of christmas memories in treat form.
As I was ready to pick up what seemed like a mundane bag of green and red M&Ms.. I started to remember one of the memories I had in my youth. It was the Christmas I was 15.. at a grocery store with my mother. We had some hard times and that was my Christmas present as it was all that we could afford. We were considered "homeless" in a form as we lived between friend's houses and on inopportune nights, the car we owned. As desperate as that sounds, we truly did have a happy christmas that year... in fact, it was one of the happiest holidays I can remember of my youth because we were just grateful for all those who could help us... one day at a time. My mother still worked at a nearby department store by name of Pamida. And I managed to keep a normal lifestyle at school while going to work right afterwards at Hardee's. It wasn't neccessarily a hard life but it could have been easier. Beside our mutual poor income, we were getting assistance from the government to make the final little push in terms of groceries.
It was odd that these thoughts were going about my mind, I found myself actually walking through isles reliving those memories and bypassing items I actually needed to grab. Vegitable cans, bottled water, Spheghetti Sauce.... I finally snapped out of it and realized I didn't want to spend all night walking around a grocery store, I should probably finish up and get home.
I doubled back to return to the forgotten yet found items when I noticed the chuckles of a small toddler girl and her obviously distressed father and mother walking by. They were speaking of stresses but something caught my ear as I was walking by.. They seemed to be discussing how frustrating it was to wake the daughter up this late to go grocery shopping. The oddity of it perked my mind enough to think about it without me realizing it as I drummed along seeking the next victim my cart would engulf.. this time a bunch of banana's were the target. As my cart rolled on in front of me, wheeling in protest, I heard the high pitch voice of the small girl calling out "Grape! Grape!" as they approached the same destination. Our unintentional partnership drifted on as I followed their cart with my own.
Finally something was said that my mind couldn't resist hearing no matter how much inattention I could fake. "The only reason we're grocery shopping this late is because we can't waste gas in traffic, we don't have enough money." the mother said to the begrudging father.
That night when I got my present nearly 13 years ago, the M&Ms I cherished as I ate, my mother woke me up and said the same thing to me. Granted it was different as I heard it from the passenger seat of a Honda Prelude... but the tone was the same. It was the strain of a mother trying to do the best she could for her family. I had been there where this mother was standing now... just in the shoes of her little daughter, albiet, in 15 year old teenage angst form. And as simple as our friendship of presence started, it ended swiftly as they turned right when I went straight.
Ten minutes went on and eventually I found myself singing haphazardly with Christmas jingles playing on the intercom as I rounded out the final notes of my list, all thoughts previous wiped from my whimsical mindset that typically accompanies me in my grocery adventures. I recoiled my filled cart to the line in a zombie-like fashion to all the other 5+ individuals waiting for their turn to the poor register worker who had to handle this group alone.
Person by person moved on until it was my turn to prematurely put my stock onto the conveyor belt while I waited my turn as I noticed a reunion with the previously perceived family right ahead of me in line, paying for their groceries in chunks. I saw her mentally accounting the cost of each individual item and splitting them into multiple checkouts to allow for an all too familiar sight... government food checks. The 4th check was being removed from the perforated papers to be handed in to the man behind the counter when she realized she didn't have a final one for the remainder of the food.
The necessities had made it to the bags at the finish line for them, but behind was a bag of grapes, a bundle of bananas and a bag of peanut butter cups. In my haphazard humming, I recollected that every other item was a collection of meal foods. The girl started to quietly tear up but not let out a cry and I could see her mother was looking at her with a look that even made the cashier hesitate. A hard decision was playing out in her mind as she weighed the possibilities with hesitant daughter in tunnel vision view. The mother was about to put these unnecessary treats back.
She turned to the cashier and stated, "don't worry, I'll pay some cash for these" immediately the daughter's face lit up. It was then that her mother pulled a coin pouch out of her purse. I interrupted.
I didn't interrupt out of haste, everyone was still oblivious to the scene and no one is in a hurry in the grocery store at almost eleven o'clock at night.. I don't mind when people find out ways to squeeze the last bit of resources out of one's own assets. I interrupted because I felt it was the right thing to do. I simply pulled out my wallet and handed my card to the cashier as she started counting quarters. The only words I could let escape me was "It's my treat, Merry Christmas."
Then I finished taking out my final loafs of bread last from my cart as it was my turn to go through the monotonous ritual of purchase and package.
The ritual went as planned, the family moved out of the automatic doors into the cold winds of the Minnesota snowscape and the people behind me repeated the motions they've done countless times before. As I put my bread into the seating portion of my cart, I felt a hand pat me on the shoulder, "Sir, that was really gratuitous". I was surprised, I didn't realize anyone cared or noticed the exchange... it seemed to wake someone up.
I gave a rather simple response, the only one that felt right to give "It's the season of giving, more people should do so." and kinda just walked on. It wasn't the most noble of words, but I feel it was at least sincere in hindsight. Upon exiting the doors, I found a family by their car watching me as I walked out.
The mother, father and their little adorable daughter were waiting, standing together as if they were posing for a photo with their hands on the wee one's shoulders in front of them. In reality, it was probably to keep them all warm as it wasn't all that warm outside. They wanted to ensure I knew that it was very appreciated that I helped them out and the little girl went so far as to ask if I was the angel that mom spoke to all the time. That broke my heart...
The exchange was simple but when she instinctively asked if there was a way that she could repay me, I gave a reply I used to give when I did this in my early 20s. "One day you'll see an opportunity like this to help someone else... be sure to recognize it when that time comes along." She seemed to understand it well and I shoo'd them into their car to warm up, it wasn't the weather for a small 4 or 5 year old girl. As I was packing my groceries into the car, hearing their vehicle "backfire" as it warmed up was a rather perfect addition to the scene as it played back in my mind.
On my way home, I thought about all that happened, and replayed in my mind better things I could have said inside instead of merely "It's the season for giving..." How cliche...
Why have I written this story on a StarCraft website? Well, glancing back mentally, I guess some people may view it as tooting my own horn. That's not the intent. I guess my goal is to remind people that opportunities exist and for the cost of a McDonald's meal or something as simple as your time and attention.... you could help out some people who truly could use it.
I daresay that whenever those people eat those grapes, they'll taste much better than they would have otherwise because of the thought of a stranger they'll probably never meet again... I encourage others to take a likewise opportunity if it reveals itself to you.
Happy Holidays guys and gals... No matter how easy or hard it is for you these days, I think that making the best of this season is the only thing I wish upon everyone of you.
EDIT: If you happened to read to this point, I would like to hear your thoughts... good or bad.
Lastly, please don't judge this as it's my personal thoughts.. raw and written. I'm not going back to edit and perfect this too much as I think it would disrespect the honesty I put into this. In short, I apologize if it bastardizes the grammatical laws of American English.
Gifting Grapes...
Tonight I did what I typically do in the evenings lately. I spend time with my lovely wife before she goes to bed at the early time of 7pm. This is in preparation of her rather painful exploits at the United States Postal Service who have a rather hard workload this time of year as St. Nick's personal whipping crew. My 5 year old goes to bed shortly thereafter as he realizes that the repetitive addiction known as Nick Jr is starting to show the bedtime hints and my 2 year old takes advantage of some one on one dad time as we explore the random drawing programs and storytime rituals that only a computer can provide to my slightly technological family can geekily maintain.
Eventually the younger of the two munchmites fell asleep which I whiskfully moved into his own bed before I walked out to our blue sedan vehicle and drove off to the night in search of the peaceful 10pm isles of Cub Food in search of groceries. Tonight's load was lighter than usual, as the typical high cost items are in high supply in my own freezers. Hamburger meat, chicken breasts, hot dogs, chicken nuggets and ramen noodles are all handily in stock allowing for some pick and choose moments to try and add small morsels of christmas memories in treat form.
As I was ready to pick up what seemed like a mundane bag of green and red M&Ms.. I started to remember one of the memories I had in my youth. It was the Christmas I was 15.. at a grocery store with my mother. We had some hard times and that was my Christmas present as it was all that we could afford. We were considered "homeless" in a form as we lived between friend's houses and on inopportune nights, the car we owned. As desperate as that sounds, we truly did have a happy christmas that year... in fact, it was one of the happiest holidays I can remember of my youth because we were just grateful for all those who could help us... one day at a time. My mother still worked at a nearby department store by name of Pamida. And I managed to keep a normal lifestyle at school while going to work right afterwards at Hardee's. It wasn't neccessarily a hard life but it could have been easier. Beside our mutual poor income, we were getting assistance from the government to make the final little push in terms of groceries.
It was odd that these thoughts were going about my mind, I found myself actually walking through isles reliving those memories and bypassing items I actually needed to grab. Vegitable cans, bottled water, Spheghetti Sauce.... I finally snapped out of it and realized I didn't want to spend all night walking around a grocery store, I should probably finish up and get home.
I doubled back to return to the forgotten yet found items when I noticed the chuckles of a small toddler girl and her obviously distressed father and mother walking by. They were speaking of stresses but something caught my ear as I was walking by.. They seemed to be discussing how frustrating it was to wake the daughter up this late to go grocery shopping. The oddity of it perked my mind enough to think about it without me realizing it as I drummed along seeking the next victim my cart would engulf.. this time a bunch of banana's were the target. As my cart rolled on in front of me, wheeling in protest, I heard the high pitch voice of the small girl calling out "Grape! Grape!" as they approached the same destination. Our unintentional partnership drifted on as I followed their cart with my own.
Finally something was said that my mind couldn't resist hearing no matter how much inattention I could fake. "The only reason we're grocery shopping this late is because we can't waste gas in traffic, we don't have enough money." the mother said to the begrudging father.
That night when I got my present nearly 13 years ago, the M&Ms I cherished as I ate, my mother woke me up and said the same thing to me. Granted it was different as I heard it from the passenger seat of a Honda Prelude... but the tone was the same. It was the strain of a mother trying to do the best she could for her family. I had been there where this mother was standing now... just in the shoes of her little daughter, albiet, in 15 year old teenage angst form. And as simple as our friendship of presence started, it ended swiftly as they turned right when I went straight.
Ten minutes went on and eventually I found myself singing haphazardly with Christmas jingles playing on the intercom as I rounded out the final notes of my list, all thoughts previous wiped from my whimsical mindset that typically accompanies me in my grocery adventures. I recoiled my filled cart to the line in a zombie-like fashion to all the other 5+ individuals waiting for their turn to the poor register worker who had to handle this group alone.
Person by person moved on until it was my turn to prematurely put my stock onto the conveyor belt while I waited my turn as I noticed a reunion with the previously perceived family right ahead of me in line, paying for their groceries in chunks. I saw her mentally accounting the cost of each individual item and splitting them into multiple checkouts to allow for an all too familiar sight... government food checks. The 4th check was being removed from the perforated papers to be handed in to the man behind the counter when she realized she didn't have a final one for the remainder of the food.
The necessities had made it to the bags at the finish line for them, but behind was a bag of grapes, a bundle of bananas and a bag of peanut butter cups. In my haphazard humming, I recollected that every other item was a collection of meal foods. The girl started to quietly tear up but not let out a cry and I could see her mother was looking at her with a look that even made the cashier hesitate. A hard decision was playing out in her mind as she weighed the possibilities with hesitant daughter in tunnel vision view. The mother was about to put these unnecessary treats back.
She turned to the cashier and stated, "don't worry, I'll pay some cash for these" immediately the daughter's face lit up. It was then that her mother pulled a coin pouch out of her purse. I interrupted.
I didn't interrupt out of haste, everyone was still oblivious to the scene and no one is in a hurry in the grocery store at almost eleven o'clock at night.. I don't mind when people find out ways to squeeze the last bit of resources out of one's own assets. I interrupted because I felt it was the right thing to do. I simply pulled out my wallet and handed my card to the cashier as she started counting quarters. The only words I could let escape me was "It's my treat, Merry Christmas."
Then I finished taking out my final loafs of bread last from my cart as it was my turn to go through the monotonous ritual of purchase and package.
The ritual went as planned, the family moved out of the automatic doors into the cold winds of the Minnesota snowscape and the people behind me repeated the motions they've done countless times before. As I put my bread into the seating portion of my cart, I felt a hand pat me on the shoulder, "Sir, that was really gratuitous". I was surprised, I didn't realize anyone cared or noticed the exchange... it seemed to wake someone up.
I gave a rather simple response, the only one that felt right to give "It's the season of giving, more people should do so." and kinda just walked on. It wasn't the most noble of words, but I feel it was at least sincere in hindsight. Upon exiting the doors, I found a family by their car watching me as I walked out.
The mother, father and their little adorable daughter were waiting, standing together as if they were posing for a photo with their hands on the wee one's shoulders in front of them. In reality, it was probably to keep them all warm as it wasn't all that warm outside. They wanted to ensure I knew that it was very appreciated that I helped them out and the little girl went so far as to ask if I was the angel that mom spoke to all the time. That broke my heart...
The exchange was simple but when she instinctively asked if there was a way that she could repay me, I gave a reply I used to give when I did this in my early 20s. "One day you'll see an opportunity like this to help someone else... be sure to recognize it when that time comes along." She seemed to understand it well and I shoo'd them into their car to warm up, it wasn't the weather for a small 4 or 5 year old girl. As I was packing my groceries into the car, hearing their vehicle "backfire" as it warmed up was a rather perfect addition to the scene as it played back in my mind.
On my way home, I thought about all that happened, and replayed in my mind better things I could have said inside instead of merely "It's the season for giving..." How cliche...
Why have I written this story on a StarCraft website? Well, glancing back mentally, I guess some people may view it as tooting my own horn. That's not the intent. I guess my goal is to remind people that opportunities exist and for the cost of a McDonald's meal or something as simple as your time and attention.... you could help out some people who truly could use it.
I daresay that whenever those people eat those grapes, they'll taste much better than they would have otherwise because of the thought of a stranger they'll probably never meet again... I encourage others to take a likewise opportunity if it reveals itself to you.
Happy Holidays guys and gals... No matter how easy or hard it is for you these days, I think that making the best of this season is the only thing I wish upon everyone of you.
EDIT: If you happened to read to this point, I would like to hear your thoughts... good or bad.