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The
Supermarket Incident
The
other day, I was out grocery shopping at my local
supermarket around 6:30 pm when an older man
turned a corner into the pasta aisle and put his
hands on my shoulder. I jumped up. My first
instinct was to get angry and ask him to please
not touch me. Then I noticed something. The man
was crying...
He
looked distraught and confused. Suddenly, he
asked, ‘Do you know where my wife is? I’ve
been looking for her.’ I told him I didn’t
know and suggested maybe he ask the store front
for help finding her. I was thinking maybe he lost
her in the aisles. Hasn’t everyone lost someone
this way? I was wrong...
He
proceeded to ask, ‘Where is my wife? She was
right here.’ Tears welled up in his eyes. I told
him once again that I was not sure and gestured to
walk with him to the customer service counter
where they could use the overhead speaker service
to make an announcement for her. He obliged...
There,
the woman asked for a name. He looked to me in
confusion, as if I had the answer for him. The
woman half rolled her eyes and turned to me.
‘Miss. Do you have THE NAME?’ I explained he
was a stranger and I had no other information than
she did. ‘Is this a joke?’ she asked. By then,
it became really clear to me that this man was
very confused. Not just regular confused, but
Alzheimer's confused. Having had a grandpa with
this condition, I knew it all too well...
I
took him to the food court and we sat down. He was
now shaking and crying softly. ‘Where is my
love?’ I held his hands and I asked him if he
had a cell phone. My heart was breaking for him.
He said he wasn’t sure, so I asked if I could
search his pockets. He obliged. I was careful. In
it, I found a small flip phone. I searched through
his contacts and found one that read ‘Daughter
Krissy.’ I immediately called her...
She
answered in seconds. Hello?’ she said, her voice
already sounding frantic. I explained that I was
with an older man who I assumed was her father.
That we were at the supermarket on Lane St and he
was very distraught and upset. ‘On my way,
‘she said. ‘Can you make sure he doesn’t
wander off?’ She continued, ‘Thank you, thank
you. I’m coming...’
For
20-something minutes, I sat with a crying
stranger. I held his hands. I wiped his tears.
When he shivered, I laid my jacket down in his
lap. I gave him answers he needed to hear in the
moment. I kept him from trailing off. Because
that’s the least I could have done...
Suddenly,
in walks this tall young woman who looked about 28
or 29. Long black hair and green eyes. We locked
eyes and she came rushing over. ‘Thank you.
THANK YOU,’ she said. ‘I had to leave for just
an hour, and this happens. I knew I shouldn’t
have left him. I’m SO sorry.’ She explained
that he sometimes runs off and looks for his wife.
That he lost her 13 years ago, but he never stops
trying...
She
proceeded to help him out of his chair and thanked
me once again. On their way out, I heard him say
once more, ‘Where is my wife?’ My heart hurt,
but I was so happy to see him with his family
again.
I
share this not only because this man touched my
heart, but to say this: The majority of this world
are strangers to you. I know that. But never
forget that we all share this world together, and
in it we can share kindness. That is the only
thing that can keep us going. If you see
something, do something. You never know how big
your impact can be on someone else’s life. I
don’t care that the shopping cart I accidentally
left in the pasta aisle during the frenzy of this
situation was unloaded and put away. That I had to
re-find everything. I don’t care that I ate
dinner a little later that night. That I went home
and cried my eyes out in the kitchen for this
sweet, poor man.
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