I should have written this down right after it happened, but it's taken me this long to shake it off.  That's right folks... I fell once again into the abyss of Black Friday this year, and this time, I took my wife with me.  (Poor girl!)

We'd been searching online for weeks trying to figure out what all of the stores were going to have for sale that day.  From all of the major store chains, Best Buy seemed to be our best bet.  Best Buy had a digital video camera for $150 and the Half-Life Orange Box game set for $25 (half it's normal price).  We didn't really have a lot of money for laptops and stuff like that, but these bargains were satisfactory with our budget. There were a few items at other stores that if we got them it would be cool, and we thought we would try with them later, but Best Buy would be our best bet.  My boss had learned of my plans and poked fun at me and said my time was worth more than what I would be saving.  (We'll get back to that...)

I actually went online to see if we could avoid going that afternoon by purchasing the great deals online.  I managed to purchase the video camera there.  Technically, we didn't need to go.  Why we did is still a mystery to me.  I sure this happens with you sometimes too... wondering why you do stupid things.  Repeatedly.

We found a last minute baby sitter (thank you Ruth Ann!) so off we went to the Chesterfield Bottoms, near St. Louis.  That shopping area has many of the chain stores in one area including our target.  As we pulled up to Best Buy around 9:30 PM on Thanksgiving evening, there were about 50 people aleady in line.  Some had tents... heck, even one group had a gas generator running for heaters next to their tent.  Folks take this stuff seriously!  We pulled out our chairs and took our place at the end of the line.

IT WAS ABSOLUTELY FREEZING!!!!!  In that river valley, the winds seem to make it twice as cold as it really was.  I knew my wife wouldn't last the night sitting in front of the store, so as I sit in my lawn chain covered in layers of clothes and blankets, I made her drive around to see what was going on at the other stores.  After about an hour of staying in the cold, I had her run back to Eureka, MO (about 15-20 minutes away) to buy a small tent from Wal-Mart.  It was the closest one nearby that would be open that late at night.  I got to sit there for another hour or two before she returned.  She brought me hot chocolate and we set up the tent probably the fastest we've ever set up a tent in our lives.  That was a whole lot better, because it broke up the wind so all we had to contend with was the cold.  My bosses earlier words kept floating through my head.  I thought to myself, "You know, what you're doing now is probably one of the greatest shows of materialism possible."  Darn the guilt!

Our tent was so big, we kind of started infringing on the space of the woman who was in line behind us, so we asked her to join us inside the tent.  My wife's a social person anyway, so she made a new friend.  Heck, they even left me there and went on another hot chocolate run together.  "There God..." I thought.  "That should even out the stupidity and selfishness of our materialism with a good deed."  I still didn't feel any better.

We stayed in the tent until 3:00 AM.  The whole time in there, we got to hear a group of kids behind us tease a couple of their frinds for going into a tent by themselves.  One girl really was loud and had a VERY annoying laugh.  The group of young people (mostly guys) in front of us spoke most of the night, loudly, about what girls in their high school had gotten boob jobs (filled in with a lot of disrespectful cursing and sexual remarks), and who they sleep with on a regualr basis.  Hearing these boys talk about girls the way they did made me shutter.  I have daughters and I dread the pool of boys this generation will have to select from.  (I'm telling you this as I'm polishing my 12 gauge shotgun!)

Okay, so it's bad enough all of the greedy people (including myself and my wife) are camping out in front of the store, nearly freezing to death.  But then, at 3:00 AM, Best Buy begins to pass out line tickets for the items they had available at the store when the doors opened at 5:00 AM.  The human being as a species failed me right then and there.  All of the folks from the back of the line began to pour up to the front of the line.  All of the people in line began to revolt.  A lot of curse words were flying, names are being called.  I even saw two ladies (the term ladies was used loosely) first get into a shouting match and then a hair-pulling fight.  Police were called in.  They didn't make the situation with the line any better.  My wife ended up in the new line with her new friend, while I stayed with our stuff in the real-but-not-so-real old line.  I broke down our tent, folded up the chairs and blankets, put it all into the jeep, and drove to the nearest gas station for a much-needed bathroom break.

I joined my wife a little later in line for a couple of hours.  There were young men trying to hustle their line tickets for laptops to people in line behind them for $30-$50 bucks.  People complained about nearly everything the rest of the time in line.  And then the doors opened.   My wife nearly gets trampled by a yound Asian boy trying to get in and I guess she had had enough by then because she stopped and yelled at him to cool it.  I think she scared him!  Heh!

So she and I split up and got the items we were there for and got out of the store quickly.  We got into the jeep and drove by the other stores on our way out of the shopping complex.  There, more stood in line at each store.  All I could do was shake my head.  We still weren't done.

We ended up going to Target and Wal-Mart before heading home.  (I stood in line at Target for a half an hour just to pay for the two items I bought there.)  Tired and weary, we headed for breakfast at a local restaurant.  Pancakes, eggs and sausage gave us a little more energy to pick up the girls and get home.  We slept probably the rest of the day.

I often think about how much we as American citizens teeter between a civilized society and complete chaos.  Huricane Katrina concerned me.  To see society break down that quickly was intimidating to my usual security in what I live from day-to-day.  Seeing my fellow humans freeze themselves, getting into fist fights and staying up all night to save a little money on gifts that their loved ones probably don't need in the first place is also intimidating.  I don't think we'll ever learn.

Merry Christmas!