{"id":11637,"date":"2016-11-06T23:02:50","date_gmt":"2016-11-07T07:02:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.godammit.com\/?p=11637"},"modified":"2016-11-06T23:02:50","modified_gmt":"2016-11-07T07:02:50","slug":"thriftshop-healing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/godammit.com\/thriftshop-healing\/","title":{"rendered":"Thriftshop Healing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, I was patiently searching a rack at a gigantic thriftshop called Savers, when a woman standing next to me started to cry. I had noticed her earlier, registering that she was very short and looked disadvantaged somehow.<\/p>\n

She looked at me and said through her tears, “My brother was killed in Vietnam.”<\/p>\n

I tried to compute this, thinking, But that was a million years ago. I managed to say, “Oh no, what year did this happen?”<\/p>\n

What a stupid question! I think I was trying to catch her in a lie. Still, she tried to remember. Sixty-something.<\/p>\n

I then said, with all my heart, “I’m so sorry. It never gets better, does it?”<\/p>\n

She agreed and we started to talk. I asked her brother’s name (Ricky) and showed her my locket where I keep Max’s hair.<\/p>\n

She told me she had taken care of her mother for six years and said: “She died in my arms.”<\/p>\n

I asked about her kids: One has stage 3 liver cancer and another needs therapy but her insurance won’t cover it.<\/p>\n

We talked about how some days are worse and some are better. She confided that she goes to thrift-shops to distract herself from her sadness…I think she said something like, “so I don’t get depression.” I assured her that I do the same.<\/p>\n

I told her to remember that she is loved and needed. She asked Max’s name so she could pray for him.<\/p>\n

Wherever you go, a person standing next to you may be suffering, and isolated in the bubble of their grief. The act of comforting someone is more gratifying than a million pairs of silk pj’s.\u00a0 Alleviating someone else’s pain is the best way to soothe your own.<\/p>\n

For a little while, because of this encounter, I felt like a valuable human being. I didn’t find any pajamas but I did find a silk nightie for $2.99.<\/p>\n

Save<\/span><\/p>\n

Save<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"