No Black Friday?
As it turns out, 2020 may have just turned into my favorite year! This year there will be no Black Friday shopping. It seems every year, I think “maybe this will be the year I try it again.” Then I remember the one year I went…
My sister, who thoroughly loved to shop convinced me that somehow I was missing out on all these awesome sales and deals. She assured me I would love this shopping experience. The adventure of the chase, and the absolute thrill of catching my prey. This could be fun. Plus, how bad a day can it be when you are going shopping with your sister?
The day (more like crack of dawn and twilight) came. I picked my sister up. She had an entire route planned for us. Thinking ahead to my coffee addiction she had even added in coffee stops. I thought to myself “this just gets better and better;” mind you we hadn’t even gone into one store. As I drove I began thinking about what I was going to have for breakfast, since, after all, we were out and about and I should definitely treat myself! We arrived at our first store. Sure, the parking lot looked crowded, but I figured it couldn’t be too bad, I mean every car fit into a parking spot so… Oh, my word, there were people all over the store. Hustling and bustling to get their treasures. I am sure I had a plan to maybe buy something, but now this, this was something else. This was my ultimate people watching dream. Little did I know, you are not there to simply watch people. You can’t just stand and look. You must have a purpose, you must get the treasure. I received several dirty looks for blocking the wall space I had crunched myself into, thinking I would be out of the way. No! That was not okay. You must be on the move, there is no time for the time-honored tradition of people watching. Well maybe this store is just a little crazy. Thankfully my sister arrived to pull me out of the wall crevice and direct me onto my next store.
WHAT? A line? Are you kidding? This line snaked along for about 100 feet. Waiting in line, in the cold frigid morning, were to many people to count. But what did I see, are you kidding me? Moms, Dads, and kids. Kids? Yes, that’s right, kids, from birth to at least age 10. I am pretty sure they don’t’ believe Santa exists after that night. What jolly old fat man would make a kid have to be awake at the crack of dawn to shop instead of opening presents? I asked my sister if this was normal? She just gave me a wary sigh like I was tiring her out by asking important questions. Hadn’t our Mom always told us “there are no stupid questions?” We proceeded to dance, jump up and down, and stomp our feet to maintain our body heat. Finally we get inside the store. It’s like nothing I have ever seen. The first store had left me unprepared for this chaos. People were pushing carts with 2 and 3 TVs in them. Five and Six year-old kids were grabbing, what could only be, their Christmas presents. “That’s it, I am leaving,” I thought. Now to track down my sister…
All in all, I look back fondly on that memory now. Shopping is just not my thing, so I probably should have known that the day we call “Black Friday” would become officially renamed in my head as “my sister is going to ask me to go again this year don’t make eye contact Friday.” In her head she renamed it “I will never take that ungrateful jerk back no matter how much she begs me, she is not a real shopper Friday.”
Memories are golden treasures. Remember that. One day, we will all look back on this year. We will think about the day we didn’t go Black Friday shopping, but surely, we will think of what we did different this year than in others. It may be that we think, that wasn’t fun, that year was boring, or some other negative thought. However, remember, memories are golden. How can I look back on a day I thought of as negative until 7 years ago? Because that was a day I spent with my sister, who was my best friend. She passed away in a car accident 7 years ago. Time changes our lives. Look for the positives, take the negatives and turn them into positives. Yes, this year has been an adjustment for us all. Stay strong, we can do it. We will come out of this year with some crazy memories…and that is a great thing!
