Posts Tagged ‘blessed’

As some of you may know, I’ve (yet again) transferred schools. I’m back at the school I originally started at in Wisconsin, and I’m back to being an English major.

Today, after two weeks back, the realization truly hit me that I’m finally in the right place, in the right field, and in the right program. It’s only taken me four long, expensive, transient ears to realize this, but that’s much less than most people, and I feel blessed to have come to this realization so soon in the grand scheme of things.

In reading an essay by George Orwell titled “Why I Write,” I realized something else fantastic: that man, who wrote as if he were speaking not only of his own life and his own soul, but of mine as well, is my peer. Not only that, but secretly, I like to imagine him as a sort of secret soulmate. I share so many of his views and theories that I feel as if I know him and he knows me better than so many other people. Maybe that’s silly, but I can’t be made to care. It’s really kind of a glorious feeling, and I plan to hold onto it.

It’s nice feeling like finally, I know who I am, unequivocally.

I am a writer.

I am an English major.

I belong here.

Okay, maybe to some of you this will sound silly, but I know to others of you will understand this. So here goes.

Hebrews 13:2 says, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.” I’ve always loved this verse, and done my darndest to follow it. If ever I have the opportunity, (at least, most days) I show what hospitality I can given the situation.

Tonight was a rather unique sort of hospitality situation. I was halfway through changing the garbage bags in the Winfield Walgreens when I happened to see an older woman at the back wall comparing two boxes of Advil. It’s been drilled into my head to ask every customer if they need help, And I honestly enjoy helping people find things they need. It’s a nice feeling to help make someone’s day.

So, I asked the woman, who’s name was Mrs. Keith, if she needed any help.

“I’ve never bought Advil before,” she said, “but I’m having trouble with pain in my legs and so I’m going to try it. I just can’t tell which of these to get.”

She held a box of caplets and a box of tablets. There really isn’t much difference, but I’ve been told that the caplets, because of their thinner, oblong shape, are easier to swallow. I’ve never noticed any difference, but then, I can down six pills at a time without a problem. It’s just something I’m used to. So I told her what I’d been told, and she made her decision.

“Are you working in cosmetics tonight?” she asked, and I said yes. “Would you ring me up when I’m finished?” I told her I was cleaning bathrooms, but I would love to ring her up. I told her I should be done in about fifteen minutes, and if she was ready before then, to let the front-end cashier know and have her call me to my register. She asked my name, I told her, and we parted ways.

We met up a little later in the bathroom, of all places, where I was mopping. She idly mentioned her bad knees, and I apologized for the handicapped stall being out of order. (It’s been out of order for years. You’d think they’d fix it by now.) I told her again to let me know when she was ready to be rung up. And again, we parted ways.

So, a little while later, I had just finished cleaning and taking out the garbage, and was returning to my aisles to do some facing before I had to pull the cash drawers. She came around the end of the aisle and said she was ready to be rung up. As I began to scan her items, she made a comment about how she wasn’t sure how she was going to be able to lift her twenty-four pack of water into her car. So, after I finished ringing her up and she’d paid, I helped her load up her cart and walked her out to her car carrying her water. I loaded it up for her, and wished her a good night.

“God bless you, Carly. You’re such a wonderful girl. I’ll say a special prayer for you,” is what she said to me. It made me feel so blessed and like I was (and still am) on top of the world. I made her night, and in that, God was glorified.

So, I went back into the store and finished out my night, convinced that I had had a conversation with an angel.