She Was Peckish

I went through the checkout at the grocery store yesterday and I guess I probably mouthed the obligatory Pacific Northwest, “Hey, howya doin’? to the cashier. She answered quite seriously, “To tell you the truth, I’m a little peckish right now.” Peckish. I know the word but I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone use it in real life except maybe on a BBC series on public television. She said she was glad her shift was ending soon because she was really hungry. I could empathize. I’m not diabetic but I seem to zoom through blood sugar pretty quickly and when my blood sugar’s low, I get really irritable really fast. I had a produce bag of beautiful organic cherries that she had just scanned and I told her to go ahead and grab a bunch of those. I was delighted that she didn’t miss a beat and immediately took a handful. I’m very familiar with this “syndrome” because though I’m probably the worst — or best, depending on how you look at it — one of our sons and at least one of our grandchildren get really crabby when they need to eat. A small gesture on my part but what a difference it made. Her “peckishness” diminished noticeably almost immediately. Makes me wonder how many little opportunities to make a difference go unnoticed every day. And I’m wondering how many simple problems could be solved with just a handful of organic cherries.

Photo courtesy WolfBlur at Pixabay.com