Humbling experiences...

Today: I took my mom grocery shopping today because she is in too much pain to drive, as she's getting ready to have her second hip replacement on Monday.  She used a scooter at the store because she can barely walk far.  It was so humbling to see my mom needing my help.  She's only 48.  We were in the same store we went when I was a little kid, and she was the one chasing after me and helping me.  It was such an experience to reflect on.

While shopping we encountered a man pulling a metal cart (not the kind that people use at the store, but a personal one.  He wasn't dirty or smelly, but looked like he may have walked there in the rain.  He was older with gray hair.  My mom was looking at beef and he asked if what she was looking at was the pork.  She pointed down the row and said it was farther down.  Later, we encountered him in the freezer section and he was looking at food, easy fix burgers to be exact, and wanted to know if he could fix them in an oven.  I looked at the box and read it to him.  He was happy to hear that they could be fixed in the oven.  I don't know whether he couldn't read or couldn't see enough to read, but my heart was broken for him.  I looked at his cart and it was full of cheap loaves of white bread and other simple food.  I held back tears as he thanked me and walked away.  I cried about it when I finally got home.  Here I've been so caught up in, "Does this fit what I'm supposed to eat?  How can I buy this organic food?" when others in the community around me don't even have enough to eat.  I was very humbled.  It is a privilege that I have what I do.  My husband and I have thought we weren't well off living paycheck to paycheck, but now I feel like we have all these nice things in abundance.  I don't even have the heart to say that I didn't eat well, because at least I ate.  

So very humbled by what I experienced today.