I slapped the alarm clock as it screamed at me to arise and face the day. I opened my eyes to darkness, or maybe I had not really opened my eyes at all. No, I remembered that I had set the alarm for the predawn excursion to be at the front of the line so when the store opened, I would be the first to lay my hands on that elusive prize that my kids had been wanting all year. And now this store, had become my savior, my place of worship, if I could only be there first to claim it!
I rolled out of bed, feet hitting the cold floor and the thought of returning to sleep took over my mind. No, I would not succumb to the fleshly desires of much needed sleep. The image of that wish from my kids kept creeping through and was just enough of a carrot on a string to get me going. Well, that and a thermos of coffee and maybe a bologna biscuit.
The car seat had become a throne of ice as i sat myself down behind the wheel of my car. Yep, I was definitely crazy to be doing this at my age. It was a good thing I had quilted my sister into joining me on this excursion. I was afraid I would have either been ran over by the mass of people crashing the store’s door, or maybe slid off the road on some black ice, left in a ditch and not found till the spring thaw…all kinds of scenarios had ran rampant through my mind. So now at least I would not be alone and another human would be there to either rescue me or keep me from freezing alone in a ditch.
Pulling into her drive, she was bouncing with excitement… literally bouncing at the end of her sidewalk. She had the door open and was jumping in before I had even stopped the car.
“Excited much!” I asked her with a small smile on my face. It was good to be doing this with her especially since we had always been close growing up, but as the years were passing us by, we had grown a little distant. But not today! She and I were back to our childish camaraderie that our mother had tried so hard to squash because we would deal her havoc when we would all three go shopping when younger. Yes, the dynamic duo was back!
Christmas music played from the radio. We both felt the nostalgic memories that seemed to be hovering in both our minds. We looked at each other and the words “I have missed this” came from both our mouths at the same time. That sibling bond still linked us together, even after all of these years. I drove on, the car becoming warmer from the heater and my heart growing warmer from having her with me.
“So what made you come up with this idea?” she asked as she sipped on her coffee. “I have never known you to be an early riser, much less be the one that did the special things for your kids like this.” She was right, I had never been the one to go outside the box when it came to the holidays, or the kids, or even my wife. I had always played it safe or did just enough to get by, but reaching a certain age, a man’s thinking becomes a little more focused on the things that really matter to him and to his family. I was now well on my way to becoming a holiday nut that went overboard for those I love. And a couple of those young kiddos that I love wanted the very item I was heading to get come hell or high water!
My sister smiled with one of those smiles that made it all the way up to her eyes. She knew I had reached the stage in my life when work took a backseat to family. She had told me for years there would come a day when my priorities would change and that time was now bearing down on me.
Onward we drove towards the city, heading to the place where the lights shown on the horizon in the sky. My quest, in my valiant car, armed with my thermos of coffee and my faithful companion of a sister, I was ready to do battle with whatever the fates would toss at me. I would prevail in my task. I would beat the dragons of crowds that I knew were doing the exact same as me, only I wished they were doing it a little later in the day!
Suddenly, up ahead… there it was… I held my breath. The parking lot was almost empty. The lot sweeper was still there removing the previous day’s trash of Starbucks cups and assorted articles that careless people had just tossed aside. Maybe, just maybe, I had pulled it off and would be at the front of the line of like shoppers that were fighting the odds of getting their hands on my present. Rumor was, there were only ten per store so I knew I just had to be one of the ten to obtain the one present that my kiddos would treasure forever.
I turned the corner of the lot and squealed the tires as I slid into a parking spot, my sister, holding on for dear life as the car came to a stop. I reached for the door handle, slammed it behind me a hit the auto lock button on the key fob. The familiar “beep beep” from the car eased my mind that my car was, indeed, locked. With my sister by my side, we raced toward the store with the red balls and bullseye in front. The place that held my kiddos future happiness. The place that we were number one and two in line!
Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Clause. Because that year, not only the Grinch’s heart grew three sizes that day, my heart grew and grew with the love of my sister, the love of my kiddos, the love of my life that I had regained all because I had set my alarm early!
A View From Bogaville 