Signs The Nation Is Still Great
Awesome, Holidays, Inspirational, Non-Dialogue, Retail, USA, West Virginia | Right | July 4, 2022
During the Fourth of July, my sister and I are doing free face paintings and chalk drawings outside our father’s store. We have been there since eight in the morning and it’s now nearing six in the afternoon.

A young woman comes up with her elderly great-aunt. The elderly woman sticks her hands deep into the bowl of free suckers we’re giving out; I am a little stunned. Before I can say something, the woman scolds her like a child. She tells her great-aunt to only take one, but we allow her to take two.

She asks for my sister to paint the West Virginia symbol onto her cheek. My sister pulls up an image on her phone and shows it to the elderly woman, who approves it, and my sister gets to work.

I talk to the woman during this time, and she tells me her great-aunt has a mental disability and that she may behave childishly.

After her face is done, the great-aunt sits down on the sidewalk with me as her great-niece gets her face painted. She grabs some of the chalk and writes out in childlike handwriting, “Kathy-Happy.”

She says she is very happy and there is so much joy on her face as she shows other customers her freshly painted cheek. Her great-niece takes her hand and they walk off.

It made my tiring day better and I don’t think I’ll forget Kathy anytime soon.