A lane opened just for me...

I was heading to the only lane open in the grocery store. There were three people ahead of me. After 30 minutes of shopping, I was ready to go home.

It was 7 a.m., and my only focus was making it home to my bathroom. I didn’t even go back when I realized I’d forgotten broccoli and my favorite ice cream sandwiches that were on sale.

So, when a person got in line behind me with only three items, I wasn’t about to let him go ahead because I was focused on getting out.

Then, a small voice inside said, "You should let him go first." I quickly reasoned with myself that the priority was getting home, and I needed to put myself first.

As it turned out, as soon as he got settled behind me, the woman bagging groceries at the end of the register, who I hadn’t noticed, looked up and opened a new lane just for him.

Once he checked out, she closed the lane.

What stung was that I’d already started placing my items on the belt, so I couldn’t move if I’d wanted to.

Walking off after paying, I realized one of my coupons hadn’t been scanned, which caused me to overpay. So another ten minutes were added as I waited for a manager to correct the mistake.

The realization that if I'd listen to me from the very beginning I would have been home instead of waiting for a manger to fix my receipt.

A lane was waiting just for me and I just needed to listen to my cue and instead I ignored it. I asked myself how many open lanes am I missing because I ignore me.