I picked my girl up from daycare after leaving work early one day this week. I decided it was time to do what I should have already done.
Since my Mimi passed away almost two years ago, I haven't been by her old workplace - the place (and people) she loved so much. After her passing (and as I've mentioned in a previous post), I heard countless people say, "That drive up window at Buy-Rite will never be the same!" It's not. And it never will be. That was her favorite place to be. Greeting people and helping them each and every day. She loved it and she was great at it. She's left some gigantic shoes to fill.
I pulled up in the parking lot at the drug store and stared at the window. I knew that when I walked in, she wouldn't be standing there. I wouldn't see that smile that spread across her whole face as she said, "There's my Rachel Suzanne!" It was always the same greeting, and it never got old. I can still hear those sweet words in my head. I could never forget that voice filled with love. But this time would be different. It would be the first time I entered that store since she passed. Was I ready? I had to be. I wanted to take my sweet baby girl to see the ladies my Mimi loved working with.
When I walked in, I was overwhelmed, but I held it together. For a minute. Until Ms. Kia was holding her behind the counter and someone drove up to the window.
"Are y'all giving those away today? She is precious!" - said the woman in the truck.
"This is Mrs. Joyce's great grandbaby!" - Kia
Complete silence. A head nod. Followed by, "So that's Rachel's baby! She is a doll!" It made me giggle that this woman knew who I was. Of course she did. You couldn't get to know Mimi without getting to know me, too.
Several other people walked in the store and heard the same thing - "This is Mrs. Joyce's great grandbaby!" Kia later looked at Harper and said, "Mrs. Joyce would be having a fit over you right now! She would eat you up!"
She absolutely would. What I wouldn't give to see it.
It warmed my soul to see my girl behind that counter 'working' the drive-up window, greeting customers with a big Harper smile, just like her Mimi did.
Bittersweet.
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