It scares the wee out of me. Aggressive trampling crowd, elbows flying, sprints to endcaps, a tug of war over the last one, where you end up beaten bloody on the floor -crying Mama – while you rock back and forth sucking your thumb.
Um, no thanks! Okay, I’m sure that’s not what really happens, but I have no desire to find out otherwise. I’ll just lounge in my PJs, thankyouverymuch.
Yesterday was my first Thanksgiving with Jason’s family. His mother graciously welcomed me, my mother, and my daughter Sydney to the grand feast. The table was decorated with ceramic pumpkins, fancily folded napkins in rings, and beautiful china. The food was a foodie lover’s dream, so friggin’ delicious. She went above and beyond. That is one mother who LOVES with all her heart, and it spills over into all the hard work she puts into this Thanksgiving dinner for her family.
Even more beautiful was the children racing around, giggling, screeching, and constantly filling their bellies. I have decided my delight in children comes from a long line of family genes. Goes back as far as we know to teachers in the previous generations. Except it ended with me, because I loved travel more, but I digress.
I got a kick out of watching my mother, mingle, laugh, and enjoy the meelee. Most of the children in our family are grown, so this was a sight to see and reminisce. It was eerie how well she fit in. But I’m not surprised. Good people with the same values, and upbringings as ours, which is why I love them so much.
Good Friday kicks off the start of the countdown to Christmas. Good Friday is a shoppers dream. Good Friday reminds me of the time my car was broken into. I was running on the trails in Fort Worth. It was somewhere around six or seven miles. I get back to find a policeman next to my car which has a shattered drivers side window.
That wasn’t even the worst of it. My purse was in the car. Yes, I know - how dumb. I went to the back hatch opened it, popped the hidey hole, and voila there was my purse. Then I checked the middle console where my keys were (to the car, house, etc). Yep! Still there. Oh the cop was none to happy about that, but seriously – jogging with a big wad of keys? – or jogging with a very small remote to the car? Yeah, I chose remote – shamefully.
I was very lucky. I never parked there again, and at the time – I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to jog again. Husband 2 was a tyrant. He went ballistic over this infraction. Of course, it was my fault, and I was never to jog again, EVER. Insurance does not pay for that, so we had to fork over a few hundred dollars. Some Black Friday, huh? See why I don’t like them.
But the gift was that it could have been so much worse, being my purse was in the car, and keys. All I lost was a lousy tinted window. I have never parked there again, in fact, I started parking in a shopping center and walking to the trails. I never, ever took my purse with me. So, it all worked out, I got to keep running at my favorite park and learned some valuable lessons.
That brings me to what I promised myself, that I would begin a series of posts, from now until Christmas titled Timeless Gifts. You know what those are – things you can’t price – just revel in the majesty of the gift. Instances of kindness that blow you away, or movement of the season to make you really realize what Christmas is all about. An unbelievable act that has you falling to the floor, shouting “I’m not worthy!” Yeah, those kind.
I have a lot of those in my life. The car breakage is one. Can you imagine right before Christmas to have your I.D and bank card stolen? It would have made for a tough time, to deal with all that, and wonder if you’d ever be safe again – not to mention the fallout, and punishment from #2.
I, for one, was very grateful it wasn’t that bad and still am. My eyes were opened to the Timeless Gifts that happen all around. I hope I can share them with you. I hope I do the stories justice in the coming weeks. Until then….
Happy “black” Friday! I hope you get gifts galore at half the price.
No comments:
Post a Comment