I awoke to the tippy tap sound of gentle rain on the roof of the camper. It sounds the same as my first camper…Little TOW-Wanda. It had a metal roof. Big TOW-Wanda had a rubber roof and I was always disappointed that the sound of the rain was so muffled. And now…Big Bird! Her roof is metal and reminds me a lot of Grandma’s house at the farm.

We had a leisurely breakfast then hung around till midday at the camper. When it was lunch time, we headed to town. We stopped at Menard’s first and bought a leaf blower to blow the leaves off the camper. Then we went to Red Robin for our later lunch, early supper. They have great burgers. I especially love the plant based Impossible Burger. 

When we were finished eating, we went over to the Polaris Mall and walked around. On our way over there, we drove past block after block of strip malls with big name stores and I quickly became overwhelmed by all the shopping opportunities. We drove through the parking lot of the mall, looking for an empty spot. Just as we turned off the engine, huge drops of rain began to fall and we rushed from the car to the door to keep from getting wet.

We parked outside of Macy’s. I always park at a store entrance so I can remember where I parked. When we walked in the door, this was what we walked into. Christmas. I know…it comes early every year now. And will so much stuff sitting on ships waiting to be unloaded, we are liable to face an entirely different holiday season than what we are accustomed to.

Remember back in April 2020 when we’d say, “When this all blows over in a couple of months, then we can _____________”?  (Fill in the blank with anything remotely normal.) and now, here we are, getting ready for another holiday season with the trickle down effects of the pandemic still nipping us at the heels. I won’t get into a long discussion about how this might have all been avoided. That’s not what this post is about. It’s about ants.

As we walked around the mall, people were milling about. I’m not used to people anymore. For more reasons than the pandemic. We live out in the country on five acres. We don’t get a whole lot of company out there. And when we do go into town, it’s nothing remotely like this large upscale shopping mall in Columbus, OH. They have a Saks Fifth Avenue, for crying out loud! We have the Piggly Wiggly!

I suddenly had this very strong image. We were like ants in a colony. Milling about. Picking up this and that and carrying it back to our nests. It was kinda creepy in a science fiction way. I couldn’t relate to these people, even though I know I was once one of them. Let me tell ya, honey…I shopped. I shopped till I dropped. Many, many times. When I was married to Hubby #2, the doctor, we had a house with…get this…SEVENTEEN closets! When we first moved in there, I thought… “What kind of family lives in a house with seventeen closets???” Well, the family before us…they had 4 or 5 kids. And here we were, with a 16 year old and a baby…rapidly filling up all those closets. With crap. Oh…I thought they were treasures, but I can hardly name a handful of things in there that I couldn’t live without.

Did I see anything in that mall yesterday that I liked? Yes. They had a Solo Stove…a gizmo that allows you to have a rip roaring campfire without all the smoke. It was $500. That’s a hard pass. There was a collapsible coffee thingy to make pour overs while camping. $23. Nope. Electric bikes? $4000! There wasn’t a darned thing in there that I needed or wanted. I like shopping back in the day. I’m a little sad that I don’t like shopping anymore. I kept asking Mr. FixIt if we were done yet and could we just go. 

Oh…I did love going to Menard’s. It’s got TOOLS! 

I’m going to have to turn in my girly girl card and get the country girl card now.

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“As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.”

1 Timothy 6:17-19 ESV