Take time to appreciate

A good reminder: take time to appreciate what you have now.
On the last day before Christmas, I hurried to go to the supermarket
to buy the gifts I didn't manage to buy earlier. When I saw all the
people there, I started to complain to myself: 'It is going to take
forever here and I still have so many other places to go...'
Christmas really is getting more and more annoying every year.
How I wish I could just lie down, go to sleep and only wake up
after it was over.
I started to curse the prices, wondering if kids
really play with such expensive toys. While looking in the toy
section, I noticed a small boy of about 5 years old pressing a doll
against his chest. He kept on touching the hair of the doll and
looked so sad. I wondered who this doll was for. Then the little boy
turned to the old woman next to him: 'Granny, are you sure I don't
have enough money?' The old lady replied: 'You know that you
don't have enough money to buy this doll, my dear.' Then she
asked him to stay here for 5 minutes while she went to look around.
She left quickly.
The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand.
Finally, I started to walk towards him and asked who he wanted to
give this doll to. 'It is the doll that my sister loved most and wanted
so much for this Christmas. She was so sure that Santa Claus
would bring it to her.' I replied to him that maybe Santa Claus will
bring it to her, after all, and not to worry. But he replied to me
sadly. 'No, Santa Claus can not bring it to her where she is now. I
have to give the doll to my mother so that she can give it to her
when she goes there.' His eyes were so sad while saying this. 'My
sister has gone to be with God. Daddy say that Mummy will also go
to see God very soon, so I thought that she could bring the doll with
her to give it to my sister'. My heart nearly stopped.
The little boy
looked up at me and said: 'I told daddy to tell mummy not to go yet.
I asked him to wait until I come back from the supermarket' Then
he showed me a very nice photo of him where he was laughing. He
then told me: 'I also want mummy to take this photo with her so
that she will not forget me.' 'I love my mummy and I wish she
doesn't have to leave me but daddy says that she has to go to be with
my little sister' Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very
quietly.
I quickly reached for my wallet and took a few bills and
said to the boy. What if we checked again, just in case if u have
enough money?' 'Ok' he said. 'I hope that I have enough.' I added
some of my money to his without him seeing and we started to
count it. There was enough for the doll, and even some spare
money. The little boy said: 'Thank you God for giving me enough
money' then he looked at me and added: 'I asked yesterday before I
slept for God to make sure I have enough money to buy this doll so
that mummy can give it to my sister. He heard me' 'I also wanted to
have enough money to buy a white rose for my mummy, but I didn't
dare to ask God too much. But He gave me enough to buy the doll
and the white rose.' 'You know, my mummy loves white roses
A few minutes later, the old lady came again and I left with my
trolley. I finished my shopping in a totally different state from when
I started. I couldn't get the little boy out of my mind. Then I
remembered a local newspaper article 2 days ago, which mentioned
of a drunk man in a truck who hit a car where there was one young
lady and a little girl. The little girl died right away, and the mother
was left in a critical state The family had to decide whether to pull
the plug on the life-assisting machine, because the young lady
would not be able to get out of the coma. Was this the family of the
little boy?
Two days after this encounter with the little boy in mind, I read in
the newspaper that the young lady had passed away.I couldn't stop
myself and went to buy a bunch of white roses and I went to the
mortuary where the body of the young woman was exposed for
people to see and make last wish before burial.
She was there, in her
coffin, holding a beautiful white rose in her hand with the photo of
the little boy and the doll placed over her chest. I left the place
crying, feeling that my life had been changed forever. The love that
this little boy had for his mother and his sister is still, to that day,
hard to imagine. And in a fraction of a second, a drunk man had
taken all this away from him.