The Old Lady at the Store.

I was third when I got in line to pay for my groceries. I watched the cashier struggle as she passed a package of chicken breasts over the laser scanner again and again; she looked to be around 75 years old. In that instant I thought about her circumstances. What led her to be scanning food at a Super Target at her age? Was her husband still alive? Did she lose all her retirement savings when the market collapsed? She placed a zucchini on the scale and flipped through the code book, never looking up. Like anybody else doing that kind of work, I could tell she didn't want to be there and she wasn't trying to hide it. At her age she had earned the right to not have to put on a happy face for everybody that came through her line. I wondered if she had any children and if she did, why they couldn't take care of her in her golden years. Then I thought about my own mother, how she would have to work until her dying day if I was the one responsible for her well being. I Thank God my step dad is able to take good care of her and they are enjoying retirement with relatively few things to stress about, me sometimes being one. When it was my turn, I watched her scan a few things before I made a comment about it being easier in the old days when you just punched in the price on the cash register. She looked up, smiled and agreed, seeming to enjoy the human interaction that is so often gone from the little day to day things in life. As I was driving home I thought to myself, "If I don't start saving now, in 35 years that's gonna be me." At least there's still time for me. For the old lady at the store, time ran out.