Are we missing the boat?

Sunday, Rob and I went shopping. Yeah I know, what was I thinking? But we needed to get a few more wine glasses for our huge celebration next Monday. Fifteen people for dinner and probably a few more for dessert! Linens n' Things had a great deal - 12 for $10. SOLD! But that was one of 4 stores we went to that day.

There was this sweet old lady in Costco struggling to push and move her cart over so that we and several others could get by. I of course reached out with a smile and lent a hand. Selfishly it made me feel better, but isn't that the idea? Helping others simply makes you feel good about yourself. I was astonished of course when she whispered in my ear with a smile on her face that she was 96 years old.

Lady, you don’t look 96.

Well, I feel it today after pushing this cart around, she said.

I tried REALLY hard to keep the spirit alive inside me, put on a happy face and lend a helping hand to those who couldn’t reach the toy, bend to pick up their glasses or move their cart. I truly wanted to enjoy the season and the “shopping” experience.

But as usual people were in a hurry to get on the shortest line, get out the door, to the next store and home in time for supper. Apparently there just weren’t enough hours in the day.

We did encounter a few rude people here and there, pushing their way through everything with their sense of entitlement. I had one woman who was in so much of a hurry she was practically breathing down my neck while waiting on line. I could FEEL her coat touching my back. Ugh. As a frequent theme park visitor, I have discovered there is only one cure for this sort of behavior: step backwards on to there toes – hard - and bump into them a couple of times. And as much as I wanted to do this to dragon lady behind me, I held back and behaved myself.

The worst, however, was driving.

Rob is a fairly non-aggressive driver. In fact I find myself egging him to go when he hesitates at an intersection.

Come on, I so could’ve gone twice.

Shush. I’m driving, not you. (One time he actually put his hand over my mouth to shut me up and to be honest, he was right. It was major PMS central that day. I like a man who can tell me like it is!).

So there we were driving down the road, pretty much going about our business and enjoying each other’s company. And in a matter of 2 hours we were flipped off at least twice, nearly run over by some lady with a nasty grimace on her face who seemed to think the parking lot was all hers and cut off by countless people just trying to get those prime parking spots.

Now I know where I live and New York is just high tension anyway. Admit it; even the most rural areas on the North Fork have more wired-up people than the back roads of Kentucky.

But seriously are we missing the boat?

This time of year is for holiday cheer, love, family, friends, giving….what happened to us?

I think next year I’ll just sit comfy at my desk browsing Amazon and wait patiently for my gifts to arrive at my door step.