Kindness in our city

Kindness in our city

On Monday evening, I stopped by Sam's Club to pick up two items for an event that we were going to attend that evening. One was a pecan pie, and the other was a fruit tray. Unfortunately, as I discovered, you cannot visit Sam's without impulse-buying two or three additional items. Since I was in a hurry, I elected to enter the club through the exit door and not use a cart. So, here I am with my five unwieldy items trying to get checked out in a hurry so we could make our event.

My first experience was in the checkout lane where a lovely lady with a full cart saw me come up behind her struggling with my items, and she immediately stepped back and asked me to go ahead of her in the checkout lane. I tried to refuse, but she got the better of me and I went ahead. After checking out, the also very nice checkout lady helped me to rearrange my unwieldy items to exit the store. On my way out of the store, I decided it would be easier to manage if I put my items in a box, so I stopped at the bin of empty boxes at the exit door. I tried to place my items in one of the boxes and was facing some difficulty in getting them organized. A few feet away were two very nice ladies with a cart who happened to notice my lack of success. They immediately came to my aid and helped me get the still unwieldy items in the box so I could take them out to my truck.

As I was driving home a short distance away, I reflected on the now almost 60 years that we have lived in Cape Girardeau, and I realized that this helpfulness is the hallmark of our community. It started on the very first day that we rented a home on Albert Rasche Drive when neighbors welcomed us with various articles of food, and it has continued to this very day with this special experience at Sam's Club. I am personally grateful for the time we have spent in our city and look forward to many more years of building happy relationships with people in our community.

EARL NORMAN, Cape Girardeau