Train to gain I call it. Be tough enough to cry and silly enough to laugh, eventually, about the same event.  I joke as I maneuver my parents through the most difficult part of their day—being in a world of bustle while they select their items in bulk size at Costco. Humor helps ease anxiety. As I return a the cart to its rack in the parking lot I am asked by a woman if she can hug me. I smile, knowing why. We bumped into each other a few times inside as I guided my  mother with her visual impairment and my father with his lopsided balance through the massive store. Both  parents hung on to the cart like a life boat. My husband pushed the wheelchair ahead of us with our son who was just out of the hospital after five days and his Life-Flight from the Sierra. A silly spectacle, a herd in healing. The woman had helped me load a 30 roll package of toilet paper it will take my parents years to finish, but the savings are important to dad. Happy to validate his needs.

“Bless you,” she said after hugging me.

“I am,” I replied. “And thank you.”

I still have my 93 year old Silver Star dad and my 87 year old PhD mom to call and to visit. Their world, like my son’s, is slow and small. That is not a bad thing. Earlier I watched a mother urge her son to get ahead of us with their cart filled to capacity in order to have her receipt checked first by the person at the door. Her face was fierce, determined. Her son appeared to be trying to please her as he rushed by, uncomfortable in his quest to be first as our eyes connected and I smiled.She gains a minute of life with her speed. Her son misses an opportunity for her to teach him compassion.