“He bought a case of Thin Mints. Ten boxes, without blinking.” Alissa’s smile does the rest of the explaining. “I said, ‘You bought a gallon of milk, cookies would pair great with that.’”

She’s why he came back.

She comes home last night physically and emotionally wiped out, too hungry to see straight. She drops into a chair and starts talking anyway.

Ramsie and her Girl Scout friend Zoey had been standing behind a table stacked with Girl Scout cookies outside Schnucks all day, selling for Troop 71271. Alissa was there as Mom and troop supervisor, keeping an eye on both teens, making sure nobody took advantage of two young girls with a cash box and smiles.

She tells me about a woman she knew years ago who stopped not to buy anything, just to talk. Caught Alissa up on everything going on in her life. When she came back, Ramsie had all four boxes ready, arms out, zero hesitation. She was paying attention, while Alissa collected the money.

Warm day in Missouri. Everyone was outside. Me, Judah, and Pretzel June spent the afternoon walking up to Orchard Elementary, enjoying it.

I keep thinking about what I missed. There’s a Jefferson line in Hamilton that follows me around sometimes. What did I miss?

Would I have noticed the guy in the black Metallica t-shirt, Cardinals hat, multiple earrings, tattoos, and a greying beard who walked past their table four separate times? Did he come back because he forgot one item his wife told him specifically to get? Each time he looked away, distant. Ignoring two teenagers selling cookies was taking real effort. “He had a full color tattoo of a rooster on his right forearm,” Alissa told me. “I don’t know. Maybe he was thinking about chickens?”

In Luke, there’s a blind man sitting by the road when Jesus passes through. He hears the commotion and asks what’s happening. When someone tells him Jesus is walking by, he starts shouting. People try to hush him. He shouts louder. He is not going to miss this.

That’s what I’m sitting with this morning. What does it mean to be at the curb while the crowd moves past? Am I blind and don’t know it? Do I see what I’m supposed to see?

Ramsie sold over 200 boxes yesterday and never looked bored, smiling most of the day. Then again, that could’ve been the Alini’s.

I wonder what time Jesus walked through that Schnucks parking lot. I think he passes by most days.

Is my voice loud enough to be heard?