{"id":3977,"date":"2014-11-26T08:00:01","date_gmt":"2014-11-26T15:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/?p=3977"},"modified":"2014-11-26T08:00:01","modified_gmt":"2014-11-26T15:00:01","slug":"of-halos-and-halos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/?p=3977","title":{"rendered":"Of Halos and Halos"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was in Sprouts Monday getting all the produce in the world for $7.26.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s the best shopping experience on the planet; I highly recommend it.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I mean, you can get a grocery cart FULL of fruits and veggies for next to nothing.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Boo-ya!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway, I\u2019m checking out and my cashier has absolutely no hair.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019m not being judge-y.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019m just noting that clearly there seemed to be some physical hardship she recently experienced that caused her hair loss.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But she had the sunniest eyes\u00a0and she was chatting away about Thanksgiving.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Was I ready?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Were we having anyone over??<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I told her it would be a pretty quiet one for us this year but that I was actually looking forward to it.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>She said it would be a quiet one for her too.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Her disabled, non-verbal brother unexpectedly passed away last month and he loved the holidays.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>He lived with their mother who\u2019s taken his passing really hard.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Now\u2026in the wake of that loss\u2026her mother doesn\u2019t feel up to celebrating the holidays.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But they\u2019re doing Thanksgiving dinner anyway.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And setting up a Christmas tree at her mom\u2019s house while they\u2019re at it.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Her brother would have wanted them to continue all of the traditions; he would be disappointed if they didn\u2019t.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>He loved, loved, loved everything about Thanksgiving and Christmas.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>But the turkey is too much, so they\u2019re having pot-roast.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

My inadequate, \u201cI\u2019m sorry for your loss,\u201d is lost in her enthusiasm as she shows me the word \u201cChristmas Tree\u201d using her brother\u2019s sign for it.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>She holds her left arm out horizontally, then rests the elbow of her right arm on top, so that her right hand is pointing to the sky.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Then she joyfully wiggles the fingers of that hand to represent the lights.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>It conveys \u201cChristmas Tree\u201d perfectly.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

All I can think at this point is: I am completely going to start crying here in the checkout line.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>All I originally came in here for were those new Halo clementines on sale for $1.98.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>But what I GOT?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Was a whole lot more: An example of courage and hope in the wake of true physical and emotional devastation.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Perspective on what\u2019s important.<\/span>\u00a0 And a reminder to be thankful for the blessings in my life, because they may just be on loan and not mine to keep forever.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

While I had to pay for the fruit, that whole other angel-in-disguise bit was free; no charge.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I TOLD you it was the best shopping experience on the planet.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Go to Sprouts now.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>And look for that cashier.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Ask her to show you her brother\u2019s sign for Happy Thanksgiving.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And if you can\u2019t do that on such short notice, then I\u2019ll tell you.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>I think he\u2019d want you to know.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>He loved the holidays, after all.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You grab your wattle <\/span>you know you have one, and please don\u2019t bring the group down with comments on how surprised you are because it got so big allofasudden<\/span><\/em>, <\/span>and make appropriate gobbling movements with your mouth, which might have to include your tongue.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>Have a big smile on your face, like you\u2019re lovin\u2019 every minute of it.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

See?<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>It conveys \u201cHappy Thanksgiving\u201d perfectly.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was in Sprouts Monday getting all the produce in the world for $7.26.\u00a0 It\u2019s the best shopping experience on the planet; I highly recommend it.\u00a0 I mean, you can get a grocery cart FULL of fruits and veggies for next to nothing.\u00a0 Boo-ya! Anyway, I\u2019m checking out and my cashier has absolutely no hair.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[317,315,316,314],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3977"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3977"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3983,"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3977\/revisions\/3983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newstayathomemom.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}