Before and After

       

    Remember Christmas shopping? No, not that fancy-pants sitting down, mouse in hand and awakening the beast of Amazon.
I mean real shopping, hard core shopping – sweating your way through a mall in your too-hot coat, carrying unwieldy packages that make entering most doorways a logistical nightmare. Shuffling behind all those other shoppers, who, like you, came from work and have exactly an hour and a half of hoping inspiration hits as you schlep from store to store. 

          That was shopping. I’m also part of the keister-in-a-chair shopping brigade, but sometimes I actually have to get up and support the brick and mortar crew.

          I almost made a run to Costco yesterday to pick up a few key things for Christmas dinner, but then sanity prevailed. My Guy and I had been there a week ago at what should have been a safe time, Monday morning, and it was a mad house. Two weeks before Christmas in the middle of the day in the middle of the week, and the lines were long and the elbows were out. And don’t get me started on how hard it was to get my hands on any of the free tasting samples.

Going this week, five days before the holiday, would take the same mental stability that had Japanese pilots strapping themselves in for that last mission.

          I’ve been retired for a number of years, and my tolerance for crowds has diminished with each year. My sexagenarian world is now paved with empty roads and quiet stores.

          I was at the grocery store last Tuesday afternoon – not my usual day -and it was absolutely nuts. People meandered in the aisles, leaving their carts every which way, and the lines were three deep at every checkout station.

          Finally able to load the belt with my groceries, I asked the clerk why it was so busy that day.

She looked at me quizzically, paused, and said, “It’s senior citizen discount day.”