He didn’t introduce himself but I knew him—The one at first feared dead, years later proclaimed to be so, and now proven by modern wisdom to have never existed.
He was smaller than I had imagined. And darker, with a fine white beard that contrasted.
“This is sixty-seven,” he said as I loaded the trunk with potatoes and turnips, butter and chicken broth, piecrusts and canned pumpkin. He was pointing at the frozen turkey.
“Yes,” I said. “Sixty-seven.”
“These are the pictures, one from each.” He handed me an envelope.
“How many are there?” I asked.
“They are all there.”
“Eighty-five? Ninety?”
“They are better weighed than counted,” he said.
“There are some that I’ll not want to look at.”
“But you will look, as is the true nature of man. And they will present in random order, which is the true nature of time.”
“Will I see joy?” I asked.
“What joy you have made will show in the eyes of your woman, your sons and your grandchildren.”
“I have regrets,” I said as I slam-closed the tailgate.
“Yes,” he said. “This is your time to reflect on them.”
“Will you help me?”
“I will return your shopping cart,” he said.
I have regrets. But I don't want a life full of them. That's meaningless, unhelpful, and unkind. I hope the regrets that I have lead me to be a kinder, gentler person. Maybe I can't change the world. But I can change me and that's a start.
Next Thanksgiving I plan to fill my shopping cart with kind words for others. Want to join me?
Jim, I'm not 100% sure what I've just read, but I read it twice because I love the words and the way their order feels when I read them.
"And they will present in random order, which is the true nature of time." is a stunning line.
The abrupt, almost non-sequitur ending makes me smile.
I am open to being enlightened a little here, but I am equally open to remaining in my present state.
(I assume there's some Thanksgiving link here, plus I had to Google to find out what a Winn-Dixie is. Now I know 😄)