On that beautiful March day, after finishing accordion lessons at the local music school, she and her son went to the nearby grocery store to buy some groceries. Near the entrance of the shop, they noticed a middle-aged lady with beautiful bunches of freshly picked teloh. She was holding one of them in her hands, while the rest of the bunches were piled in a wicker basket beside her. With what Sabina says was a kindly look, the lady watched the people passing by to see if they might be willing to buy one of the bouquets.
Sabina continues the story: 'I noticed my son looking towards the woman, crossing himself restlessly and looking at me in between. I waited a few moments to see what would happen." Then he looked towards her a few more times with a special, kind of sad look, and then towards me again. With his eyes wide open and a pleading look on his face, he finally said, "Mum, let's buy some bouquets. I'm sure the lady will be very happy and she still has a basket full of them. Perhaps no one else wants to buy them!" With a warm feeling in my heart at my son's reaction, I gave him the money and told him to buy three bouquets and give her the extra money. With a happy expression on his face, he ran up to her, picked out three bouquets and left her the money as agreed.
"I watched from a distance, but I will never forget these moments and feelings," says Jan's mother Sabina proudly. The look on her face changed when her son arrived. It was lit up with grace and emotion, and it lit up. I didn't notice the tears in her eyes because she was a little too far away, but when my son returned with another bouquet of flowers that she had given him, I knew she had them. "Mummy, the lady had tears," he rushed to explain. "Out of emotion and gratitude," I said, looking at him. In that moment he too was changed, happy, delighted and at peace in his little heart.
Watching all this, I felt deep gratitude, says Jan's mother. The story was all the more touching when they found out more about it a few weeks later. Her husband had died not long ago and she was left alone with her children. Despite all the pain she felt, she did not bow her head or shrink into the darkness, but walked among the people with her head held high, her gaze fixed on passers-by, a look of grace on her face and a bouquet of fragrant teloh in her hands.
This is the story of the compassion and heart of eight-year-old Jan, who lit a spark in a lady's eyes and who knows; maybe a new hope, even if it was through a humble act. And at the same time, it is a story about the courage and gratitude of a lady who, despite a great loss in her life, has retained that passion that drives and propels her forward, that something that overrides everything.
"In a way, the story changed me too," concludes Sabina, Jan's proud mother.
Jožica Kous, 20. 2. 2025
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