In The Spirit Of Christmas, Kind Of

Today's Close To Home comic reminded me of the last time My Mother, Grandmother and I went shopping on Black Friday.


We all decided that we wanted to go and check out the amazing deals at the Christmas Tree Shop. I dropped of My Mother and Grandmother at the front door and went in search of a parking space. I knew from looking at the parking lot that find a spot was going to take some skill and maybe a blessing from the Parking Space God. After a few laps around the lot I decided to cut to the chase and stock someone coming out of the store. I drove to the front of the store and waited from someone to come up, and then I just followed her to her car. I was in luck, the first lady that I followed had a prime spot right near the front! She walked with her overflowing cart and I crept slowly behind her. She got to her SUV (also overflowing with bags) and proceeded to put in her bags, I waited. Once she got all of the bags into the car I thought I was all set ready to get the car parked and on with my shopping. But no, this SUV driving overflowing bags lady had another thing planned. She began to WRAP (in the beautiful new gift bags she just got in the Christmas Tree Shop) her presents! Yes folks, you read that right, here she is in a parking lot brimming with people looking for spaces, and she takes her time and wraps presents! Well, to say the least I was a little ticked off. I was tempted to roll down the window and ask her if she wanted help addressing her Christmas cards as well, but I decided to not say anything at all. Back to the front door I went to start the whole routine again. The second time I found a man coming out of the store (again, shopping cart overflowing), I followed him to his vehicle and waited. Once he was done loading his car he yelled over to me "I'm going to leave my cart here for you, there are none inside!" He left and I pulled into the spot. The simple act of this man being kind wiped the slate clean of the SUV Woman's rude behavior. Once I finally got into the store My Mother and Grandmother had been wondering what took me so long, and informed me that they couldn't find a cart. I re-told the whole story, and we were all thankful for the nice man who not only let me have his spot, but also the cart.

Enjoy ~SJ