One day, as I was browsing through home decor magazines at Barnes & Noble, an older woman slowly walked by, then turned around and focused her attention on me.

“You don’t mind if I sit next to you, do you?” she said as she cozied in, shoulder touching mine.

“Seriously?” I thought to myself as I glanced down the length of the bench. There was plenty of room for her not to be sitting practically on top of me!

She told me that she was waiting for her two sons, and I quickly realized that she was tired, cold, and more than ready to call it a day. I thought of my own grandma, and suddenly I didn’t mind sharing my warmth.

She asked where I lived, and then described a family home surrounded by two acres of spruce, walnut, and hickory trees, where her grandchildren loved to run, collect nuts, and chase the squirrels. “Walnut trees only produce every other year, you know,” she said.

Actually, I didn’t know! She went on to delight me with the details of a life well lived, and I listened with interest until her sons came to take her home.

In that moment, I missed my grandma intensely, and I wondered if she had somehow engineered this meeting to remind me that our connections with others, no matter how brief, can bring the moments of joy that make life worth living.

I may have missed out on the latest trends in home decor that day, but I left with something much more valuable; remembering that qualities like patience, kindness, and respect will never go out of style.

— Debra