grocery cart

she was having a crazy day. houseguests were coming into town. she had left the grocery store after a long and painful shopping experience with her one year old and four year old, only to realize she had forgotten a vital ingredient for dinner that night for her guests. an ingredient that if she tried to substitute just wouldn't be the same. so, she sighed a deep sigh, looked at at the clock, brushed the hair out of her face, and made a right turn into another grocery store parking lot. she only had a couple more hours until her guests arrived and the house was not even close to being ready. she parked and hurriedly placed the kids into the grocery cart, hoping that someone was at the bakery to give her kids a cookie to stop them from whining for just a few moments. no such luck. so she raced to the back of the store for the one ingredient. raced up to self check-out, scanned and payed for her items, grabbed her receipt and ran out the door. she loaded the kids into the car and told her four year old she would be right back and that she was just taking the cart back into the store. as she turned around she saw an elderly lady. small, weak, possibly in her 70's, turning to return her own cart. and the elderly woman didn't hesitate,

"do you want me to take your cart with mine?"

"oh, no! let me take YOURS!"

the elderly woman again, "NO, i insist, i don't want you to have to leave your little ones, just put it right here with mine."

"oh. well, are you sure?"

"of course!"

"thank you so very much, that is so nice of you!"

"you're welcome!"

and she watched the elderly lady who could barely push her own cart, push both into the grocery store to return them.
and she got choked up.
thinking of how this one act of kindness had instantly stopped the rush of her day.
had slowed her down to appreciate the pure kindness of a fellow human being.