Two Cookies.....

 
Sometimes in life you are part of a story that you did not know you had a part in.   Or maybe you knew you were a small part but did not know how significant your part might have been.   Sometimes you will really never know about your part or role until someone so kindly points it out to you.   I have been blessed this week to have my role pointed out to me by a very kind person. 




Being an owner of a small café, you get to meet people from walks of life, in different seasons of their lives.   I am a people person and love to connect with people. 
Sometimes I have more time to make that connection than others.  Sometimes the connection is formed in bits and pieces.  Sometimes the connection is made all at once.    .  

I have had the privilege to  have made a connection to a elderly women who was suffering with
Alzheimer's.  However,  this was not a direct connection, but was made through her daughter.....

For the last year a woman would come in once a week and get two cookies.  Once, early on in her weekly travels she stopped and we just happened to be out of cookies.  I noticed that she was a bit sad that we  did not have any cookies to sell.   I suggested that she might like a couple slices of pie.   This is what she said, " I drive out with my mother, who is suffering with Alzheimer's and is waiting for me  in the car."  She explained, "The car rides really sooth her and she really enjoys stopping here for a cookie.  She went on to explain that a slice of pie would be hard for her mom to eat but a cookie is just right.   (Do you know, from that time on I did my best to make sure we always had cookies in the cookie jar) 

The weeks turned into months and I looked forward to her walking in the door to get her cookies.  We would chat briefly about how her mother was doing and wish each other well.  Just before Christmas she stopped in for cookies and mentioned that her mother had not been doing well.   Time went by and I had not seen her for several weeks.   She came into today and asked for two cookies.  Relieved that she was once again in for cookies, I asked," How is your mom doing?"  She replied, " She passed away on the ninth (about 4 weeks ago).  She then went on to say, "This is my last time coming, I am going back home. I have been taking care of mom for 4 years now and it is time.  I wanted to come tell you good bye and thank you for being part of mom's life.  She loved stopping up here for cookies. She always looked forward to the ride."   Before she left she gave me a big hug and thanked me again.

I was left standing there with tears in my eyes.  I thought about all the times that they stopped for cookies and her mother patiently waiting in the  for her cookie.  I thought about how such a simple thing as a car ride and a cookie can make such a difference in someone's life.

Though our connection was brief in the grand  scheme of things. I am honored to have been a small part of their life's journeys.   I am sad that I was at the very end of one life but honored to have been considered  a part of both of their lives.

Nebraska Prairie Girl