Grief, Kindness, and a King-Sized Reese’s

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I had been crying for about three days now. I gave myself a break and went to the river—my favorite summer spot. I swam, read, and even took a nap. It was peaceful. Soul-filling. For a brief moment, I forgot about my grief. A little reprieve.

On the way home, I stopped at Walgreens to grab a few essentials and—a giant bag of peanut butter M&Ms. As I waited in line, zoned out in my thoughts, the clerk gave me a soft prompting, “I can help you when you're ready.”

I hadn’t even noticed I was next in line.

As I stepped up to the counter, I looked at her and asked, “How’s it going?”

She looked down, shifted her weight, and said, “It’s fine, I guess.”

But she didn’t look fine. Her hair was a little disheveled, her mascara flaking and smeared. So I gently asked, “Fine like things are good, or fine like it’s been a bad day?”

She paused, then admitted, “I guess fine like it’s not been such a great day.”

While she finished ringing me up, I asked her one more thing:“In these last 3 seconds of our interaction, is there anything that I could do to make your day better?”

She cracked a small smile and said, “Maybe chocolate?”

“Well, I can help with that. What’s your favorite candy bar?”

She looked surprised—caught off guard—but said quickly, “Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.”

I turned around, grabbed the king-sized version, and asked, “This one okay?”

“Umm... yeah. Seriously?”

“Seriously.” I handed it to her to ring up and then I continued.

“You know, a long time ago I adopted this little motto: Only good things happen to me. I know, sometimes it doesn’t feel that way. But I truly believe that everything happens for a reason—and the whole universe is conspiring with me to live my best life.”

She raised her eyebrows and said, “Really?”

“Yeah. I believe I’m the luckiest girl alive. And you can be too. Even the hard things can shift into something good—sometimes we can’t see it in the moment, but it’s all going to work out.”

She smiled wider, that tired expression melting a bit, and said, “Wow… you just made my day!”

I gave her a wink as I grabbed my bags. “When you eat that Reese’s, just think about all this. You’ll feel better with that chocolate—look at me, I’m already ahead with this massive bag of peanut butter M&Ms!”

An older woman standing nearby chimed in, “Woooww, wait! I’m having a bad day too!”

We all giggled as I skipped out the door yelling back, “share a Reeces with her!”

As I walked to my car, I felt a quiet nudge in my heart, reminding me of my own motto: Even the dark darks make the brights bright.

I really do believe that. Everything in my life happens for a reason. I trust that—deeply. And I believe it for you too.

Only good things happen to me.And if you believe it…only good things will happen to you too.

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