Friday, December 22, 2006

the depth of life...or the shallowness therein...

Am I ever glad I'm not in the retail business. I took my dad shopping today and we spent five hours buying a total of three gifts and a two pound bag of pecans.

The traffic made us insane. Especially when we took our secret roads we always take...which weren't so secret today.

Tomorrow we're meeting for breakfast and finishing up the shopping. I'm mixed about the whole 'shopping' experience. Colin and I, and a few others, had a conversation about Internet shopping vs. person to person shopping. "Just think of all the life you miss out on when you don't "go" somewhere to shop," he tried to convince me. "You miss hearing the Christmas carols over the loud speakers, the rude cashiers, the squealing kids who are then threatened by their parent's with 'santa's watching you,' the festive decorations, the chilly air, the lack of parking," he added. "It's all good, Ms. Daugherty. You should never want to buy ALL of your gifts online."

I'm beginning to disagree.

Online shopping seems more and more appealing than competing with rude shoppers, unfriendly sales clerks, and crowded parking lots.

However, shopping with the masses offline does have it's benefits. Today I ran into three people I haven't seen in a while--proving there's always time in my life for good conversation, good friends, and a good cup of coffee in a cozy booth.