Bailey

I had never seen her before. She was probably in her late 40s, pretty in a mom way. I greeted her as I do everyone and I knew immediately she had a question.

"Do you have anything for my dog? I have to-he's being cremated tomorrow."

I breathed in tightly, looked in her eyes for tears forming.  I'd seen pet parents break down before-easily the hardest part of my job. But she was wearing her Everything is Fine face and so I adjusted my Retail Face and walked over to a brochure we had in the store for a crematorium. Crematorium brochures. Parents. Breaking Down.

She held the brochure in her hands and started telling me about the dog. A golden retriever that had grown up with her daughter. "She was only eight when we got him and they became such friends." She paused, turning the brochure over and over in her hands. Her voice was low, "This is the place we're taking him." 


I touched her arm gently. "I might have an idea for your daughter."

She looked up, her eyes lit with hope and I swallowed hard. I had to help her.  "When I was younger and my first dog died, my mom gave me a little pendant with a dog's head on it. It was such a little thing but it meant--"

"--the world to you," she finished my sentence and I nodded. "It really did."  

"Do have anything like that here?"  I shook my head and then suddenly we both new exactly what to do.

"A dog tag. With the inscription, "In Loving Memory of Bailey." She took my hand in hers, her face smiling with sadness behind it. "It's perfect."  

I started making her the tag-not a heart with sparkles because her daughter was 'so not a sparkle girl'-and she went to our card rack. "Any cards with goldens on-oh my gosh! This one-it looks just like my daughter. And the dog, it looks just like Bailey! Oh-oh it's perfect!"

I tried to share her enthusiasm but all I could do was think about what I was making. A tribute, a token of love. A few words on a chrome disc that a young woman would no doubt weep over. I started thinking of the sadness that would soon engulf this family of strangers and felt tears well up. Sadness. Family. Cremation. Daughter. Tribute.

I finished the transaction and then left the sales floor for a bit. I started talking to a coworker about what had happened and she relayed a similar story she'd experienced and then we were crying together. 

We hugged and put our Retail Faces back on-went to work.

Another coworker came in and he asked if I was ok. I began talking and then he was talking and the two of us are sharing mom stories and then we're crying together too. 

Not exactly what I planned on doing at work today. 

But as sadness often does, it faded. A few more hugs and I went back onto the floor. I tackled a piece of price tag madness and soon I found myself laughing. I started laughing so hard in fact that the tears  rolled down my face one more time. 

Not my Retail Face. 

Not my Everything is Fine Face. 

My Lindsay Face.