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Chocolate For The Soul
Soothing at Any Age

On a recent trip to the grocery store, I was at the checkout counter when I noticed a woman that appeared to be about 80ish directly ahead of me in line.  She was a sassy looking older lady that no doubt was a "Junior Plenty" size.   She was unloading her cart contents onto the conveyor belt, careful to align the rubber divider between her cart contents and that of the woman in front of her.  She used another as a buffer between her contents and mine. 

I felt like telling her, "no worries honey, I don't even want what's in your cart."  She had the conveyor belt heaped with the following products: V-8 juice, celery, carrots, apples, oranges, broccoli, cauliflower, two heads each of romaine and iceberg lettuce, bags of sugar free candies, and six boxes of Slim Fast in flavors I didn't even know they made.  The final item she tossed onto the moving conveyor belt was the hard cover book titled, The South Beach Diet. 

As the young perky and very slender 16ish looking cashier was ringing up the contents of her cart, she kept looking surveying the older woman from top to bottom in what seemed to be amazement.  The older woman while her cart contents were continued to be rung up, kept darting her eyes back and forth from the items on her conveyor belt to the temptation mini isle directly across from her cart.  It was if she was having a tug of war in her mind with her conscious.  Her eyes moved up and down the rack as her fingers ran over the items such as Twix, Almond Joy, Mounds, 100,000 dollar bar, Kit Kat bars and finally to the yellow and brown packaged M&M's that were distinctly propped up for easy retrieval.  She would occasionally look at me and then to the cashier and back to her cart contents.  She moved to the end cap knowing she had a little time before her total was announced.  There she touched the salt products.  Fritos, Cheetos, and chips of every flavor.  She glanced at the tabloids which featured the newest diet crazes and finally back to the chocolates.   

This went on until the perky cashier announced her healthy products total.  "That will be $107.71."  Just then, the pleasantly plump woman grabbed three Twix candy bars and a tabloid featuring a skinny airbrushed woman in a very skimpy bikini running off the beach.  She almost tripped over my cart as she quickly tossed them on the conveyor belt.  She looked at the cashier and asked, "Is it too late to add these to my total?" The tiny little gal behind the checkout counter shook her head in disapproval and growled back, "no, it's fine."  The woman asked her final question, "and can you put the candy bars in a separate bag so I can carry them with me?" The young girl obliged her wishes and slapped them on the counter. 

Inside I was busting my own gut with both laughter and tears.  I kept fast forwarding my own situation and thinking, "My Gosh... by the time I'm 80, shouldn't I be allowed to grab a Twix bar without the guilt? And... for that diet food, shouldn't Slim Fast be abolished for those over 80?" 

The new dieter pushed her cart heaping with fresh vegetables out the door.  I had only a few items to purchase and was quickly out the door.  As the sliding door rolled open, directly outside I found the older woman standing curbside.  She was holding the gold wrapper which was ripped apart and feverishly eating one of the three Twix bars from her stash.  I wondered was having a diabetic need? Was she famished? Or was she like me and just having a wild craving? 

As I walked by, she smiled at me.  I looked again at her and a piece of gooey, carmelly chocolate clung and dangled loosely from her long, grey chin hairs.  She reached out and grabbed my arm and said "honey, I hope you never have this problem.  I've been dieting all my life and I seem to get nowhere."  She chuckled out loud, and as she did her tightly permed bluish grey curls bounced on her head.  She peeled back the remainder of the gold wrapper and exclaimed; "Oh, but there's nothing better than chocolate for the soul!"

Random Observations...

I do believe that each encounter in one's life serves a purpose or is a lesson that is perhaps not realized until later.  In this case I do have some random observations to share. 

#1.  You have to know that a woman was in charge of the grocery store's marketing.

       Who else would put the chocolate and salty temptations right next to one another?

#2.  Young perky, cashiers if they are blessed with a long life will eventually grow long

       grey chin hairs. 

#3.  Shouldn't age have its privileges?

#4.  Guilt is a wasted emotion.

#5.  Always pluck your chin hairs, you never know when something will catch itself them. 

#6.  Chocolate still soothes the soul, no matter what age we are!

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