Dear Young Target Employee,
Thank you.
I wish I would have said it out loud to you, that day. The day that I stood in the back of an-impossibly-long-line (read: probably 3 people), shuffling my feet, taking deep breaths, staring at the clock on my phone. I know, I know: I looked like a jerk. And you, with sweet kindness, tapped me on the shoulder, sending me on to a newly opened lane, smiling with a graciousness I certainly didn’t deserve. I know I looked like what would- on any normal day- be filed somewhere on the internet under “First World Problems”. But that day? That day was different.
Because sometimes it’s the day that you find out your Mom has cancer.
And life- in its cruelness- goes on anyway. And you have to buy something stupid, like paper towels or stamps or nail polish remover, and it forces you to go to the store. And while on any other day, the shifting feet would be about keeping to an impossible schedule full of things that barely matter, on THIS day, it’s taking everything you have to stand in that unending line. Fibers of your being vibrate inside you, and you feel your insides begin to melt away.
On this day, you are fighting to keep it together, every breath a labor. All moments marching towards The Moment You Will Lose It.
But you, sweet Target girl- you rescued me with your kindness. You gave me the time to get to my car. To exhale the breath I’d been accidentally holding. To dissolve on my own terms.
And maybe more: you gave me a win on a day when I just, just really needed a win.
It was nothing to you, I would guess. But to me? It was pretty big.
So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Heart,
Ann
(Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. Unknown.)
Live Color Fully 
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