My life is a beautiful adventure that God intended for me to live out to the fullest, remembering that every day is a gift and should not be taken for granted.
I remember the first year I ever went Black Friday shopping. It wasn’t a normal Thanksgiving year; that year, my family had gone to New York City. So just ponder that. I was in New York City…on Black Friday. Chaos doesn’t even begin to describe the utter insanity that engulfed the city on that day. Walking down 5th Avenue, never-ending lines stretched all the way around the block to get into those coveted stores, such as Abercrombie and Fitch and Sax Fifth Avenue. The entire city was high on prospective savings and the arrival of the Christmas season. Even having to climb over mountains of clothes in Macy’s and H&M was a reward if you could achieve the ultimatum of savings. It was there in that magical city that I truly became mesmerized by the idea of Black Friday shopping.
Being a swimmer I find it extremely difficult to make both morning practice and early morning Black Friday shopping work. For the past two years, I have had to reluctantly go home while my mom and sister gallivant around the stores securing the best deals they can get. If you have ever stayed out all night on Black Friday, you know exactly what I am talking about when I say that Black Friday shopping at 2 a.m. is completely different than Black Friday shopping at 9 a.m. It is where you find out that McDonald’s stops serving French fries at midnight and no matter what it is, everything becomes funnier. Regretfully those two years, I chose sleep over participating in this fascinating holiday that follows Thanksgiving. This year, though, I decided to attempt to merge both swim practice and shopping, and I actually found a happy medium. Obviously I wasn’t able to stay out for the full night, but I did still get to experience the rush of pushing and shoving your way to find the deal that could make the night absolute perfection.
Now many think that Black Friday is just a marketing scheme that makes people spend more money and a threat to potentially get tased, but my family uses Black Friday as an asset to early Christmas shopping as well as a way to spread the joy of Christmas.
Clothes, appliances, shoes, you name it some store somewhere has just the thing you are looking at buying for a special person in your life. Why would I spend full price on something that I could get for half off? Not only does it make perfect economic sense but it allows people to understand and value what makes stores truly impeccable when it comes to savings.
Although I didn’t stay out for the full experience that I would have liked to, I learned something more this Black Friday. Even though the day technically started this year on Thanksgiving and I don’t support that, the prospect of being able to make someone’s Christmas spectacular by simply participating in the chaotic adventure called Black Friday is worth more than anything you could ever buy. Maybe that is what the Christmas season should be about: unconditionally giving to other people, even if it means a little less sleep or money in the pocket.
