Written and Edited - June 6th, 2017 - 6:16 pm to 6:48 pm
Edited - June 15th, 2017 - 4:42 pm to 5:00 pm
Help Wanted, Help Given
So, I think it happened within minutes or hours of my first day. I was bagging groceries for a customer and I heard co-workers talking about walking her home. My memory serves that there were 1 or 2 co-workers and no one wanted to walk this customer home.
I was new to the scene but heard the exchange. Why doesn't Alex take her home or Alex can take her home. And I said that's fine with me since it was.
I didn't know what was entailed or involved. I just agreed in my usual agreeable, don't like conflicts self.
So my co-workers clarified that I'd be walking Mrs. Jones home who lived across the street from the store (Food Rite).
So there we were. I was about 16 years old and I'm guessing that Mrs. Jones was about in her 80's. Later I learned that she came to the store every day.
I had a sense of where she lived but I didn't know exactly. So she was my guide and our natural paces were different. So I just followed her lead by walking next to her. And I think I was carrying her 1 or 2 bags of groceries.
She asked me my name and I told her. Except the back and forth was me saying Alex and her saying another name in a questioning way. Finally, after a little back and forth, she got my name right.
And she was telling me stories as we were walking. I think her pace matched a snail's, and I might have been both patient and anxious about wanting to speed up the pace.
But I think I was so focused on walking with her with care and my own mental and emotional state, I only remember a very small part of a story.
The story involved a tzar, I think of Russia. And Mrs. Jones said that the tzar was in her family due to her marrying him, a sister or another family member marrying him.
And I think I remember wondering what was true and if any of it wasn't true or exaggerated. And that's all I vaguely remember. I wish I remembered more of the story.
And it seems like it was a very interesting story that I might have been engaged with or absent from at the time, but I don't remember it now. And I think I forgot the story shortly after.
Well, after about 45 minutes we got to her place and I walked with her to her upstairs porch that was outside.
I think we might have talked a little bit more. I walked down the porch and we said goodbye. I don't remember who said goodbye first. I said goodbye Mrs. Jones. She said goodbye John.
For a minute or so I was frustrated again that she didn't get my name right. But then I thought about it. It didn't seem worth arguing about it and didn't make sense to.
There's no harm done, if I corrected her it might not stick. What's in a name? That's her current reality.
I checked my watch as I went from her house to the store because I wanted to see how long it would take for me to get back to the store. I think my walk took me about 2 minutes to get back to the store.
I wish I had more patients and awareness at the time to remember her stories. But, even though I only remember one interaction, Mrs. Jones taught me some life lessons in that walk, like different perspectives, appreciating stories, different paces in life, moving in life in different ways.
So, thank you Mrs. Jones.