Cold Feet

We often take for granted what we have.  We all have our problems and we all complain about things in our lives we (mostly) feel are beyond our control.

On our way to my dad's 70th birthday party on Saturday night I stopped outside the bottle store and asked my daughter to run in for me (to this day she has not been asked for her ID - I wonder if it's that they just believe her, or they're happy for the sales). She is 18 by the way...

While waiting outside in the car, I had a "common visitor" to my car window.  A lady holding a range of socks, dish cloths and a few other items.  Having read something recently about how these ladies are often treated, I wound down my window and greeted her and asked for how much for the socks.

It's winter.  My feet get cold in winter. Well... everything gets cold in winter, but I like my feet well covered.

"R30 each ma'am" she replied.

"I'll take a pair of blue and one black".  They're the nice longer socks - not knee length, but longer than ankle socks. And fluffy.





I handed her R60.  Not something I can well afford right now.  But I'd already given the kids (teens) more than that to spend in the bottle store, so I retract that statement.  It certainly is not going to be the difference of going hungry or not. And I'll 2 pairs of warm socks.

Her response was heart shattering: "Thank you ma'am.  God bless you.  I've been here all day since early this morning and I haven't sold anything. Thank you so much".  It was almost 5pm.

R60.  It made the world of difference to her, but didn't make much dent out my pocket. It got me thinking that R60 would hardly see me through a day! And that wasn't her profit. She still has overheads to pay... The cost of those socks.

Be thankful for all you have.  We're all struggling. We're all battling our own demons.

At the end of the day... If we all threw our problems in a big pile and had the choice to take somebody else's problems, or take our own back - most of us would take our own problems back.

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