I went home the other night from a career workshop with my head in the clouds as I’m always thinking about something whether consciously or subconsciously and stopped by the grocery store. I grabbed a few things by list-guessing as to have a list near me is like trying to eat a snack in front of my kids, its gets lost faster then you can realize its missing.
As I stood in a slightly longer line behind this elderly man who had a positive air about him, I zoned out mentally as my head went back to not only thinking of what I could be missing in my basket, but brainstorming about what I sponged-up from the workshop. I was thinking to myself, how am I going to stand up the next day before everyone and not look like a blank case just as the old man in front of me had half-finished loading his groceries onto the conveyer belt. He turned around to me and pointed out the shorter express line to the side, as he seemingly felt bad that I had about 5 things on me and was waiting on his whole carts of stuffs. I came back to the present and immediately assured him that it was fine, that I was just buying time in the store trying to remember what was on my list (not mentioning that my grocery list was no more than my 6 y/o’s memory who was in school still) and to take his time. And then he replied to me with something that ultimately hit me like a board to the face. He turned back around as his groceries moved down the belt and said, “Oh, for a moment there I thought you were angry and about to burst into a fit at me.”