Black Friday Virgin

So I did it.

My sister told me she and Kim and Heather were all going out shopping at 5am to get the doorbuster deals. I told her sure, I would go along. I had never done this American tradition before.

So, we woke up at 4 in the morning and got ourselves together. Nothing fancy for sure. Sweats and sneaks and no showers. We trooped off to Walmart, were part of a mob and melee and actually wild fun. We had poured over ads the night before while munching on some turkey sandwiches and had scoped out the items we wanted to pick up. Vacuums, microwaves, crockpots and towels. Toys, movies, joggings suits and sweaters. It was going to be fun!

We exchanged cell phone numbers and all sort of veered off into different directions. I was able to grab the things on my list in about 20 minutes and lucked out at the checkout. I put this stuff in the car and came back in to help my sister to find the rest of her items.

After Walmart we went to the mall near by and hit JC Penney's, Sears and a place called Bon Ton's which I think is a local store and is similiar to Penney's. The crowds were civil and the only back up was at the check out counters. We even found parking spaces that were fairly close. Oh, there was one shortage. Shopping carts. Not enough at any of the stores I was at. Oh well.

I felt good most of the day but there was a 'trigger' moment when I walked out into the mall and they had a dodge dakota quad cab bright red truck sitting there. That was Jim's truck. I couldn't look at it and wanted to walk on by with my eyes closed. My sister and the others were all meeting there. I called them on my cell phone to tell them I would meet them in the other store. I told my sister and Kim tonight why that moment had been upsetting. It just brought to the surface that Jim wasn't there and that none of the gifts I was buying was for him. It hurt. They understood that it was a painful moment for me.

We came home around noon, had some lunch (turkey sandwiches!) and took a nap. I woke at about 3, had another sandwich and went back bed to read for a bit. When I heard people stirring I got up again. I think all in all the day was a success!

I had another turkey sandwich at 7 pm. I could eat them for a month and not be tired of it. With some lettuce, mayo and salt and pepper, and the chips and cranberry jelly on the side. Wicked good. The added bonus was the pumpkin roll with whipped cream. Yummy!!!