Tears at the Deli

As I was standing with my two youngest children and a shopping cart in front of the Deli the other day, patiently waiting my turn, I noticed the lady in line ahead of me. She was an elderly woman, my guess was that she was in her early 70's.

I suppose I expected to just notice her and move along in my thoughts as I waited, trying to ignore my two little ones whining. But, my eyes couldn't leave her. Unexpected tears pooled, then began to stream down my cheeks. I felt flustered and tried to re-gain composure from this seemingly silly reaction, but I just couldn't. The tears were there, they kept coming and so I kept wiping my cheeks as fast as I could.

The woman probably heard a sniffle or two {or three or four- despite me trying to calm myself and do it quietly} because she turned around, looked at me, smiled and went back to looking at the meat and cheese selection. It was then that I decided to share my overwhelming feelings with her.

I lightly tapped the elderly woman on the shoulder, as I wiped my cheeks, yet again, quickly. "I'm sorry to bother you, but I just wanted to share with you that having you stand before me has taken me back to thoughts of my grandmother. You look so much like her and you remind me of her in many ways. I guess I didn't realize I missed her so much until I saw you. My grandmother died about five years ago."
The woman smiled and said "Don't you just hate when you see people who remind you of lost loved ones? It happens to me all the time. It's hard."

Of course, more tears came and I wondered -"Why don't I carry tissue with me for heaven's sake, and this woman must think I'm crazy!" I apologized for the tears but she didn't seem to mind and in her own way made me feel comfortable with my sudden outburst. Then the conversation lead to my grandmothers name, where she lived when she was alive and such. Even the deli lady began asking questions and strarted telling us about her own grandmother- {apparently I wasn't quiet enough.}

As the woman left, I watched her slowly push her cart to continue on with her shopping. The deli lady asked for my order, I gave it and as she cut my meat I thought what a small but beautiful gift it was to see this elderly woman, to have a reminder {even though it was so sudden and very much unexpected} of how much I love my grandmother and how much she continues to love me beyond the veil.

As many of you know I'm writing a fictional novel about a teenage girl whos grandmother {her namesake} passed on years before. This young woman has the rare opportunity to visit her grandmother in dreams. She gets to walk and talk and enjoy the grandmother she dearly misses from her childhood. Her grandmother helps her through some trials as well as teaches her how to stand on her own two feet.
Of course, there's so much more to the novel but that's the underlying message. I feel a very strong need to write of the bonds that we currently have with our kindred dead, who love us, adore us and are there to help us. We are not alone here on the earth- we are not expected to go it alone. We have divine guidance, more then we know.

Even though I'm writing about this in a fictional sense, I am doing it because I have never felt so much love from across the veil as I do these past five years since my grandmother passed away. Time and time again I feel her near me. I know she helps me in more ways then even I am aware and has influenced me for the good.
At her funeral someone spoke about how she would now be able help those she loved more on the other side then she could do so living on earth. And I believe that with all my heart. You know how so? Because I can literally feel it!

My novel is dedicated to this grandmother {which took me hours to word perfectly}:

To my Eternal Grandmother Bonnie ~
Even though my privilege of getting to know you in this life was brief;

I feel your incessant love and personal desire to serve me from across the veil.

My gift of sincere gratitude and undying devotion is yours.