“I used to work as a cashier. Every day, sometimes many times a day, an elderly man named Norm would come into the store and buy two maple bars from our bakery: one for himself and one for his wife.
I worked there for over a year and can only remember maybe a dozen times he didn’t come in. It was obvious that he had been losing his memory because sometimes he would altogether forget that he had already been by the store that day, but he would always tell us the sweetest things about his wife Naomi, his children, how much he enjoyed being retired with her and to have so much time to spend with her. He was well into the final years of his life, after many years of marriage, and still talked about her like she was the queen of his life.
About six months into working there and knowing him, we found out that Naomi had passed away about a year and a half before that. In his delirium, that’s what his mind went back to: eating a maple bar every day with Naomi. There’s no other story I’ve heard from any couple that made me believe in true love the way Norm did.
In a weird coincidence, Norm was put into assisted living by his sons after they had watched his condition deteriorate. Incidentally, I had left my job as a cashier and started working at that same facility, so when I saw him I was ecstatic. I would stop by that grocery store before work sometimes and get him a maple bar. He would always light up and get so excited, then tell me about Naomi again. He was truly happy in those moments and it would make my entire day; I can still see the expression on his face just remembering it.”
