an older lady (we'll call her maggie) that's...well, "off," to put it nicely comes into the bank once a week. every time she asks for a peppermint, a tissue, a handful of rubberbands and three bank envelopes.

ever since the beginning of march she's been asking me to write down my name so she can get me an easter card. the first time she asked i noticed there was about 60 cents in her account and i wanted to ask her to please, please save her money for something else, but instead i wrote my name down. and every week after that until right before easter i continued to write my name down for her, because she'd always tell me about how she lost it the last time.

she came in a couple of days ago, easter card and all. the card still had plastic around it (due to glitter) and she had again lost the peice of paper with my name on it. i took the plastic off and wrote my name on the inside (as she had asked me to do) and she signed it from herself.

she asked me if she should sign it from her cat too, since a lot of people do that, and i responded with "i definitely think you should." i then proceeded to put the card in the envelope and put my name on the outside.

when i opened it and read it later, the front said "to a sweet neice," and the inside was signed "from maggie and mancho, my cat. with love." i felt bad that day because i didn't have a peppermint for her and my mind kept wandering back to two weeks ago when she mentioned that her boyfriend died last summer. she's clearly been through a lot and i wonder if perhaps her mental handicap is somehow a blessing, because it seems to help her forget the tough and focus on the good.

overall i'm not really sure why this interaction was so significant to me, but i think it's because there's a sense of tenacity in this semi-crazy woman that i deeply respect.

or,
maybe i've just never gotten an easter card before and it made me feel special. :)