I’ve had the privilege of working as a cashier at my local grocery store just blocks from my house the past 3 months. It was a job I took on as my first step to heading back into the work force after solely being a stay at home mom for 13 years. Just recently, I accepted an Infant/Toddler preschool position. I am very much looking forward to holding babies every day, especially since my “baby” is 2 months shy of 12. Even though my job is changing; I will say I thoroughly enjoyed my short time as a cashier.

While I was working as a cashier I marveled at the interaction I had with people. It was a unique view of the people in my community. Some were bustling home from work just trying to get dinner on the table. For some, it was their outing and social event of the day. For others, it was a post workout stop to grab a treat and a protein drink. I would see exasperated moms with toddlers having a meltdown or couples in love getting a post-date bottle of wine. The interactions I had with customers, while in my line, were sometimes negative or even odd. For the most part, it was always a brief, yet positive interaction with people from all walks of life. I had a few encounters that stuck out to me as amazing and I wanted to share them with you.

Meet Katherine. An elderly woman buying her weekly groceries with beautiful silver hair and a sweet smile. I didn’t know her name just yet. She was just another person buying her groceries. We started to talk of the stormy weather we had been having and she mentioned that her sister in Germany was experiencing the awful heat wave they were having. When she spoke I noticed she had a thick European accent. She informed me that the people of Germany were not used to 98 degrees or more and people were becoming ill or dying without simple air conditioning. I asked her if she was from Germany and she said, “No, but I was in a Nazi concentration camp just before the war ended.” I just stopped scanning her items and looked at her with my mouth gaping open I’m sure, and said, “Oh my, I’m so sorry. How old were you?” She replied, “12.” I can’t do math quickly without distraction, so there was no way I was going to guess her age while trying to scan items, take money and converse with her. I later put together that she is now 83, give or take a year. She went on to say, “It was awful. They did horrible things to people.” She stopped talking, looked me right in the face with her piercing blue eyes and said, “We must never forget what happened.” I nodded and concurred. All this time I was scanning and bagging her purchases. She pulled out her debit card to pay and began to grab her bags to go. Before she left I said, “What is your name?” She replied, “Katherine,” with a delicate roll of her “R”.  I grabbed her hand and looked her in the eye and said, “Katherine, it was so nice to meet you. Thank you for sharing your story with me.” We smiled at each other and I went back to scanning items for the other customers in my line.

Later I wished I had asked for her phone number. Oh how I would love to sit down to coffee with her and ask her so many questions about that time. “Did her family survive? Did she have nightmares after? Did she get to go home, or was her home no longer existing? How did she come to America…?” It was such a special moment for me and I am so grateful for the opportunity to meet Katherine. Not only was she my first encounter with a living WWII concentration camp survivor but a moment in time I won’t soon forget.