Where is everybody?

It's the day after Thanksgiving, "Black Friday". My neighborhood is quiet, deathly quiet. I can't believe what I'm thinking, but there's really no other explanation for it...They've gone to all the sales. Imagine that?

The last time I woke up early to go to a store was over 20 years ago, and the only reason I did that was because I had to open the store. It was a frantic, ridiculous thing. I arrived at the place at 4:00 a.m. The place had to be opened at 5:00.

When I got there, there was a line of people waiting to get into the store. They had blankets, chairs, and snacks. I still think about it and wonder why they thought it was so important to be there to get the sale on the piece of junk that would end up in a dump not long after this all important waiting game.

When my kids were younger I would try to get to the sales, but I didn't go nuts. It wasn't that important to me to get things for $10 or $20 dollars less than the regular price. I didn't, and still don't understand the mind set that seems to permeate through this society.

Why do we think everyone has to have the newest, biggest, greatest and best new piece of junk? I think back to the days of the Cabbage Patch Doll frenzy, and wonder where those dolls are today. I'm betting they're in a dump somewhere, at least the majority of them.

Then, remember the Beanie Baby frenzy? I do. I bought a couple because they were cute and put them on my desk to humor kids who came in. I swear those things started to breed. A few days after I brought in the couple I bought, there were more added to them. After a short time I had to buy a storage shelf for them. Customers and clients kept bringing them to me. They spilled over the filing cabinets and onto another desk. I gave them away to kids who came in, but that just seemed to make them breed faster.

One morning I arrived at the office to find a policeman waiting for me. We had been robbed in the night. The officer asked me to look around and see if anything was missing. I went into the office and noticed the only thing missing I could see was the Beanie Babies. Can you believe that someone broke into the office and stole Beanie Babies? They did. They took some other stuff as well, but the majority of the theft was those bean filled animals.

In a way I was kind of glad. They were getting out of hand. I had too many in the office and I couldn't stand them all. I still have some of them in my house today, but I keep them separated so they won't breed.

I hope my neighbors are getting good deals today. Gosh, I wouldn't want them to be losing out on any little doodads that someone else will get. Something like that would be so sad...

I think people are nuts, and at this time of year they really show their nutsiness most.