Where Gratitude Grumbles ~ 002

You Don't Mind, Do You?

I was standing in line at the grocery store with two people in front of me, looking down at my phone while I waited.

An elderly man with a cart full of groceries squeezed sideways into the line ahead of me.

When I looked up, he said, “Oh, you don’t mind, do you? I’m old.”

I smiled and said, “No, go ahead.”

Inside my head, however…

Yes, sir, I mind.

I am already running late to pick up my daughter from school.

Then I need to pick up prescriptions for my mother-in-law and deliver them along with these groceries.

I also need to stop at the pet store for dog and bird food.

And I will need to stop for gas at some point.

Then, because I am running so late, I will probably pick up fast food for dinner instead of going home to cook.

But by all means.

Go ahead.

If I had been a cartoon, there would have been steam coming out of my ears.

What he couldn’t see was everything waiting for me on the other side of that line.

And I couldn’t see what might have been waiting for him either.

But he didn’t really ask.

He decided for me that because he was older, I wouldn’t mind.

I did mind.

But I chose not to say so.

Because sometimes kindness is what we choose to show on the outside while gratitude quietly grumbles on the inside.

You – and your occasional grievances – are always welcome here.

🌿WGG