09 Nov The Magic Candle
Three teenage girls, wearing matching plaid skirts and white shirts – the uniform of a nearby school – were standing in the candle section at Target. Carefully, they were taking the lids off glass candle jars to smell the seasonal scents. The candles that were nose-friendly would get a pleasant “Oooh!” or “Yum!” The not-so-nose-friendly ones would get gagging noises, followed by the quick snap of a lid being put back on.
Toward the end of the aisle, a woman was leaning on a cane and examining the different colored bags of potpourri. At the other end of the aisle, I was trying to decide if it was worth it to buy a bag of pine cones requested by the girls’ school or whether there might be time to instead gather some at a nearby park.
Between sniffs of candles, the teenage girls were talking about a boy. One of the girls was noticeably upset about a recent breakup, and the other two friends were trying desperately to cheer her up, reminding her of all his worst qualities. This boy was apparently not good at responding to texts in a timely manner and had been “liking” too many other girls’ social media posts. This tactic wasn’t working well – the girl was refuting and justifying all of these apparent shortcomings.
One of the friends held out a brown-colored candle and pushed it toward the unhappy girl’s nose. In a theatrical voice, she said, “I have here the one and only magic candle that heals hearts. Just one deep sniff of this disgusting…” she paused to read the name from the label, “Cracking Wood Wick Candle and you will instantly feel better.”
The girl who was feeling sad took an exaggerated and noisy inhale and declared dramatically, “It worked! I can’t even remember his name!”
The girls all roared with laughter.
At the far end of the aisle, the woman standing near the potpourri let out a chuckle.
The girls were still laughing about the scent of the candle as they looped arms and walked toward the front of the store.
The woman with the cane walked toward me. “That was cute, wasn’t it?” she said, gesturing toward where the girls had stood in front of the candles.
I smiled and nodded, having decided these overpriced, tiny pine cones weren’t worth it and the girls and I would instead go on a pine cone gathering adventure after school.
“You know,” the woman continued, pausing for a moment and appearing lost in thought, “I think that was the first time I’ve laughed since my husband died.”
I looked up at her, holding the bag of pine cones, watching this realization unfold on her face – the awareness that she had laughed. The surprise that she could laugh.
A moment of uplifting human connection warmed two hurting hearts in the seasonal décor aisle at Target that day. A woman grieving the loss of her husband. A teenager whose heart was broken.
All from a flicker of laughter. Thanks to one magic candle.