At 8 a.m. on Sunday before Thanksgiving at the Stop & Shop in Vineyard Haven, I had a lovely encounter. As the clerk was finishing my tally, a beautiful woman approached me and asked me if I would help her honor her late mother, the anniversary of whose death was the next day. She said how generous her mother had been, and she wanted to remember her in this way.

Confused, and thinking she would offer to help me out with my many heavy bags filled with potatoes, flour and the like, I said okay. But in fact, as soon as the notice to insert card for payment came up, she jumped forward with her credit card. I protested but she pleaded, so I let her go ahead and thanked her. She then vanished, wishing me a Happy Thanksgiving before I could get her name.

Because I am among the Island’s most fortunate, I then gave the clerk cash covering the grocery tally, hoping she would use or share it. She thanked me and said she knew just what to do.

I hope now that this lovely woman’s gesture to honor her mother gets extended further, and anyone who can will copy her generosity.

Ellen Guiney

Chilmark and Boston