One Face

There was one fact that came though my checkout lane yesterday that I believe I will always remember as a shining moment in the mist of the rush of holiday shopping.

He was with his daughter and grand kids. His smile was as big as anyone's I've ever seen. But he wasn't talking. He gestured with delight, but couldn't talk. Turns out he has, as the kids called it, "old man's disease". However, they didn't say it in a mean way or condisending way, just an explaination.  The real name for it, as his daughter told me, is Alzheimer's. Yet here he was in my line, brightening my day. Grated, it wasn't my responsibility to look after him, and he might be a strain on his loved ones at times. Yet it certainly didn't seem like they were strained at that moment. Taking Grandpa out to the store where he was having a blast. And giving me a gift with his smile.