The loaf of bread

Hal and I decided that it would be fun to make a calendar for 2021 using some of our favorite photos that we took in 2020, as a way to go through this coming year remembering the many blessings of a very challenging one. I took on that project and have had lots of fun in the past week going through all the photos that I took in 2020 and finding the best ones for the calendar. One of the photos that I came across this week was this one... a photo of a loaf of bread. It reminded me of the story that goes along with it and that I had meant to write a blog post about it two months ago, a plan which got sidetracked by all that school work. I decided that it would be a good way to look back on 2020 and to start 2021 because thinking about the story reminds me that hope goes far beyond what we can see before us with our own eyes.. Here's the story of that loaf of bread...

Hal came home from work one evening in early November with this loaf of bread in his hand. He works in a pharmacy and I'm not even sure that they sell frozen bread in the grocery section, so I was really surprised to see that he had come home with a loaf of fresh bread. It wasn't an expensive loaf of bread from a fancy bakery... it was just a simple loaf of white bread from a grocery store bakery. It was the story behind the bread that was so valuable and which brought tears to many eyes that evening, including mine.

A few weeks earlier, Hal had been at work and was doing something at the front of the store near the cash area when he noticed a woman standing at the cash counter who was upset and starting to cry, while a line started to form behind her of other customers waiting to pay. Hal asked the cashier what was going on and was told that the woman didn't have enough money to pay for everything and was trying to decide what to put back, which was a tough decision for her because they were all essential items. Hal asked the cashier what she had decided not to buy, looked at the woman and told her that he would take care of it, then told the cashier to put those items aside so that he could pay for them once the woman had bought what she could afford. And that's what he did... after the woman had paid for all of the other items, Hal bought the remaining ones for her. The woman was so grateful and, with tears in her eyes, thanked him and told him that she wouldn't forget what he had done for her. Hal told her not to worry about it and to instead pay it forward to someone else who needed some help in the future.

Well, that woman really didn't forget about what Hal had done. That day in early November, she came back to the store and asked to speak to the manager. The manager was called to the front of the store and responded to the call along with the assistant manager. The woman told them what Hal had done for her weeks ago and said that she had come back to thank him for his kindness and generosity. Hal was then called to the front of the store to meet the woman and to receive her thanks, along with a simple loaf of white bread from a grocery store bakery that she had bought for him. It's value and meaning were so much greater than an expensive loaf of bread from a fancy bakery.

The story brought pride to the heart of the store manager and tears to the eyes of the assistant manager. When Hal came home with the loaf of bread and told me the story, it then brought pride to my heart and tears to my eyes too.

2020 was such a difficult year for so many people, but one thing that struck me again and again throughout the year is the incredible kindness and generosity that brought people together to help those who were in need. I read and heard so many such stories throughout the year that touched me deeply and brought tears to my eyes again and again as I was overwhelmed by the lengths to which people would go to help total strangers. 2021 will certainly brings its share of individual and global challenges, especially since the pandemic is still far from being over, and I hope that we walk through 2021 with increasing degrees of compassion and care for each other, even total strangers.