MerrinDonahue.com

A customer made me cry today. No, it’s not what you think….it was a good cry. Here’s the story:

A woman came in looking for a specific candy bar (one which only we carry). A close friend of hers had bought her 70 different candy bars for her birthday—-one for every year she’d lived (so far). It came as a complete surprise to the woman (a widow, no children). Not so remarkable….until you get to the rest.

It also happens that, since her birthday a week or so ago, this woman began to receive mail— a lot of mail. Unbeknownst to her, her friends and neighbors had made a copy of her address book, one she’s kept since she was first married at 19. Some entries were incomplete: names and out-dated phone numbers, but no addresses, addresses but no complete names. Her friends went to great lengths to contact each and every entry in the book. Some had passed away, most had moved, more than a few had married and divorced. The friends asked each person to send a note, or a picture if they had one, or just to share a favorite memory with the woman. Some of these people she had not spoken with in 50 years.
Slowly but surely, her mailbox began to fill with notes, cards, photos, and letters. She had no idea how it started, but suddenly, she had 169 notes (and more still in the mailbox today). This morning, she talked on the phone for two hours with an old best friend with whom she hadn’t spoken in over 25 years (they lost touch when her husband relocated).
She found out just this morning that her friend, who had given her 70 chocolate bars, had orchestrated the whole thing, and she came in to buy her favorite one of the bunch as a “Thank You”.

The time and effort that this woman’s friends put into this didn’t cost a dime, but what a gift. I’d rather have 169 memories and friends than 70 candy bars any day. Now tell me that didn’t bring tears to your eyes.