Make It Safely Home
We make it here
We met in the center of the Food Lion aisle. I moved aside so he could push his cart to the side. He limped along, walking carefully and slowly, hanging onto the shopping cart. He looked like one of those die-hard men who don’t give up, no matter the trouble. Of course he was, for in his cart was his walker, folded together to make room for groceries.
He doesn’t have any need to be in here like this, I thought as I maneuvered my cart around him in the next aisle. Too bad somebody isn’t here helping him.
When we met in the third aisle, his eyes flickered recognition. We didn’t know each other, but we kept meeting – first in produce, then in the canned beans aisle, and yet later in the coffee and tea section. I pondered, I wonder where he lives, I wonder where is home? I hope he makes it safely home.
Because this is the south, we acknowledged each other as we moved out of each other’s way. First I apologized to him and the next time he apologized to me when his cart bumped the side of mine as he leaned on the handle, moving slowly. We smiled at each other in southern fashion, where you smile whether you know the person or not.
When we got to the check-out, my cart was piled high and his was sparsely filled, not even covering the bottom of the cart. It took both of us thirty minutes to get everything on our list.
Make it safely Home.
Heading home, I followed his pickup out of the parking lot and onto Route 58. Hunkered down in his cab, his hands gripped the steering wheel as he peered out through the windshield.
He’s old to be driving, I thought to myself. I wonder if he lives by himself or if he’s taking care of his wife at home.
He meandered east on Route 58 while I turned west.
“Lord,” I prayed, “help him make it safely home.”
Then I remembered. Life is like that run to the grocery store. We start on a jog, then a run. As we age, our trek through the store – and life – becomes a walk. Soon, we’re hobbling along, edging closer to death as we trudge through one day at a time. We meander and maneuver, making choices and paying for those choices.
Yet the most important thing of all in this life is this: we make it safely Home.
