A cart full of groceries, I make my way to the registers. A cashier waves me over to her empty line and I apologize for not bringing my own bags. She encourages me that it’s no problem as she crinkles open the paper ones and double bags them.
“Have any plans for Easter?,” she asks.
“We’re going to do an egg hunt, keep it pretty simple,” I say. There's more but I do not want to overwhelm with my answer. “What about you?”
“I’m going to go see my grandparents.”
Immediately my heart floods with a sense of comfort, “Enjoy those moments for as long as you can.” It comes out of my mouth before I can hold it in.
She nods with a gentle knowing and says that she will. She tells me about how close she is with her grandma, that they love to paint together. That her grandparents are just returning from Florida for the year, so she’s excited to see them. She just got into an art school in St. Augustine and her grandma was so thrilled that she made sure to go to the campus and take pictures for her granddaughter. She will be able to visit them on the weekends during school, while they are down South. She’s really looking forward to it.
I listened and smiled with my own gentle knowing, fading in and out of full comprehension, with a long away sense of that kind of comfort.
My mind swirled with the feeling of being in my grandparents’ home, of hearing Grandma giggle, how she said my name, her warm welcome hugs. Walks on the trails my grandpa carved through their woods and my grandma clearing every stick that had fallen as we moved. Blueberry picking in my aunt and uncle’s field up the hill, and her unable to pass a good bush when it was time to go home. Sitting around her table with the lazy Susan in the center. Making my way through every photo album on their shelves and asking for stories about certain pictures. How she loved dirty jokes and swimming and her family.
As she spoke, the bags filled and were returned to my cart. My trance and dream-like state ended as I realized it was time to pay, “Enjoy and give your grandma an extra hug.”
Eyes wet, but not brimming. Throat tight, but not choked. I gave thanks for the connection of that moment & the shared beauty of having grandmas who give the feeling of warmth, just by thinking of them.
