so, they are still here - one more day. so today while liam napped, i went out to make some returns. popped in my robbie seay NEW cd and off i went. went to radio shack, tom thumb and target. then on to the hallmark shop. but there was a sign on the door that read "seasonal merchandise: NO RETURNS OR EXCHANGES after the holiday". hmmm......surely there were exceptions.
i walked into the store and asked a young clerk about the sign. yep, she said, it was correct. i looked at a rather bustly (bustly not busty), business-looking woman with a terse expression and no smile. yes mam, she assured me, no exchanges or returns on seasonal merchandise. "ornaments?" i asked. for sure ornaments, she curtly replied. "no exceptions" i pleaded. she shook her head and firmly repeated "no.".
i turned and stood still, my hand on the door handle for a few minutes, peering out the window into the bright sunlight. then i opened the door and walked out. i was half-way across the parking lot when i stopped, turned and walked back toward the shop. i opened the door once again, walked over to the counter and laid the bag of merchandise down next to the cash register. the woman looked up at me with a "oh-no-surely-she-g0t-the-memo" look.
tears began to spill down my cheeks behind my sunglasses. my voice was barely understandable as i pushed the bag toward her and said "you can have them. my daughter lost her baby and i don't want them any more. you can have them." and i turned and walked out of the store. the woman just stood there, speechless.
on christmas, my daughter hung her own ornament for sydney grace. she desperately wanted some reminders, as painful as they were, this holiday. after all, sydney is a part of their family. so a few days before christmas i had carefully selected a mother/daughter willowcreek ornament and then a delicate hallmark white fabric baby bassinet ornament. but the more i thought about it the less i was sure that i could actually give it to her on christmas morning. i didn't want to be the one who made her cry. there were others who could do that - the joyfully pregnant friend, the newborn baby at the christmas party proudly handed from guest to guest, the pink bundle in the basket next to hers at the store. there would be so many. but by golly, i wasn't going to be one of them. not her mom.
so i just took my pain and returned it along with the receipt to someone who right now is more concerned with inventory and sales and profit and losses. losses. i'm sure she didn't get it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
"You, Lord, are close to the brokenhearted and save those who are crushed in spirit."(Ps.34:18) You are surely close to the Margrave family, Lord. Help them to sense Your presence every day, and in You find peace that passes understanding. Comfort them, be their refuge and strength. Amen.
"Life is a steep climb, and it does the heart good to have somebody "call back" and cheerily beckon us on up the high hill. We are all climbers together, and we must help one another. This mountain climbing is serious business, but glorious. It takes strength and steady step to find the summits. The outlook widens with the altitude. If anyone among us as found anything, we ought to "call back."
If you have gone a little way ahead of me, call back- 'Twill cheer my heart and help my feet along the stony track; And if, perchance, Faith's light is dim, because the oil is low, Your call will guide my lagging course as wearily I go.
Call back, and tell me that He went with you into the storm; Call back, and say He kept you when the forest's roots were torn; That, when the heavens thunder and the earthquake shook the hill, He bore you up and held you where the very air was still.
Oh, friend, call back, and tell me for I cannot see your face; They say it glows with triumph, and your feet bound in the race; But there are mists between us and my spirit eyes are dim, And I cannot see the glory, though I long for word of Him.
But if you'll say He heard you when your prayer was but a cry, And if you'll say He saw you through the night's sin-darkened sky- If you have gone a little way ahead, oh, friend, call back- 'Twill cheer my heart and help my feet along the stony track."
(Mrs. Charles E. Cowman, from Streams in the Desert)
jan, i'm "calling back" to you...though our pains are different, our suffering not the same...i have been through the valley...and i'm calling back, to tell you to hold on to Him. He is holding you. He loves you.
much love and many many prayers,
angie
Post a Comment