The Real Thing

Sorry if this is a little long, but I feel like I owe it to a greater power to get it right. Please take a minute to read this.

This is my 9th Christmas with my company and it's my least favorite time of the work year. I work at an electronics retailer and anyone in retail will probably agree with me. It's busy, crowded, and customers are notoriously demanding and cranky. It really makes you question what our priorities have become. But today something happened that if for only a short period of time reminded me that there is a chance for at least some of us to really appreciate life, love and each other.

I was on my way out to lunch. I was tired, starving, and not having a really good day. I was almost to the door when a customer made eye contact with me. "Oh great. Fine. I'll see what she wants but I'm hungry." She was about 5 feet tall, long blonde hair, and I'd say probably in her 60's. She started telling me that she had a cassette tape that she wanted to copy and wanted to see if there was any way that we could do it for her. She went on to explain that her husband of 42 years had recently passed away and that she came across a tape of a business meeting he was in when she was going through his briefcase. The tape wasn't for her though. It was for her two sons. For Christmas, she wanted to give them a chance to hear his voice again.  All of a sudden, lunch didn't matter.

I took her over to one of our shelf systems that still had a dual cassette and made the copy for her. While it was running, she told me her name was Beverly and she started telling me about her husband - what he did for a living, where they had travelled, how he passed away, and how after all that time, they were still sweethearts. She never shed a tear, just wore a big smile on her face. She admitted that hearing his voice hurt, but she was so thankful for the time that she had with him.

We live in a era of "I want what I want, when I want it." People seem less and less inclined to even extend courtesy, much less find that kind of true love that seems so rare. I may never find it myself, but I couldn't help but feel blessed that I had gotten a chance to see it. Couples like my great aunt and uncle, my grandparents, and this complete stranger help me keep faith that it's still alive. Even if I never have it myself, knowing that it's still there makes me feel a level of comfort that I can't begin to articulate.

Thank you to those rare and few examples of how love can still live in this world.