I was having a good day so it’s funny how emotion and can creep up on you. I spent the morning shopping for things to put into a care package. My son is overseas right now, serving in the Marine Corp, he is somewhere safe-ish and will be done with his four years this summer.
I got it all boxed up and took it down to my local post office. I live in a very small town and I have lived here a long time, so the Post Office Guy knows me. He looked at my box and said, “Oh it’s for your son! Is he overseas again with the Marines?” He very kindly helped me get the box and the tricky FPO address sorted out and took the box. “It must be hard having him away for the holidays. I bet you miss him a lot.”
And that was it. A gentle, kind word from a friendly neighbor and I burst into big sloppy tears in the middle of the post office. Post Office Guy was very compassionate about it. He came out from behind the corner and gave me a big hug. I had a really difficult time stemming the flow of tears and didn’t want to hold him up. (At least there wasn’t a line. Whew!) He gave me a tissue and did not seem to think crying in the Post office was a strange occurrence at all. I wonder if people frequently cry in the post office. (Bills you can’t pay? Dear John letters, court summons? Maybe… But I am sure there is joy there too, right? Wedding invitations, baby announcements, gifts and packages. Wow a lot of life happens in the PO. Who knew?)
After I escaped the post office, I sat in my car, letting the tears flow more freely and I thought- “Well of course! It’s the day before Thanksgiving and I miss my son.” Funny how it snuck up on me, sort of out of the blue. I have been gentle with myself since then and my heart feels a bit cracked open in a good way.
There is a lot to be grateful for after all. Those loved ones who are present with me today, my parents, my two other children and my wonderful, loving extended family.
I come from a family where everyone genuinely likes each other and I have always been grateful for that too.
Grateful for the food on the table and all the bounty and abundance that represents.
Grateful for the moment and all the joys, sorrows and LIFE that it contains.
Grateful for the love that surrounds and inhabits us.
And super grateful for the compassion and kindness of ordinary people, who in extraordinary moment show up like angels.
Happy Thanksgiving!
