Black Saturday...

Jodie likes to tackle the crowds at the mall during the holidays. I prefer to stay away.

In past years we have discovered that the best time to hit the mall for Christmas shopping is dinnertime, right after work.

For the last few years Jodie has expressed more and more interest in being one of the crowd waiting in line at a 4 a.m. Black Friday store opening. One of these years I will be waiting in the van as Jodie shops.

Shopping from a scooter under normal circumstances is tricky enough. People don't see you because you are just below eye level. When they do see you, people try to get around you anyway they can...but they won't let you get around them.

During Black Friday, any semblance of civility when people happen to see me would be off. That scares me to death!

Saturday afternoon after Jodie and E had finished putting the decorations up outside the house, I asked if they wanted to go to the mall to do some shopping. Jodie asked, "Are you sure?" She knows how much I hate the crowds.

We drove Jet White over to Clackamas Town Center. We got there about 3:30. Nowhere to park in back, so we went to the front of the mall. We finally saw an open disabled parking spot. I thought the car coming the other way would take it...so many people have the disabled parking placards anymore. Jet White is big and intimidating, but small cars are quicker and sassier. But behold, the spot was ours.

I took Eric shopping for Jodie first. An hour and a half later we met for dinner at Chili's. They were very accommodating for us with our two scooters...a very pleasant dining experience. Then, Jodie took Eric shopping for me. With one vehicle and one driver in the family, this is a good example of how we do things differently.

To my pleasant surprise, I did not find the crowds too intimidating...the parking lot was way worse. I didn't go in any of the small shops -- scooting around in some of those are impossible.

I found some additional elevators in the mall. The only 2 elevators I knew of before was the one at Sears on the one end, and the one at Penney's on the other end. Now there is a elevator in the middle of the mall (it is glass...I had to convince E that it was safe to go on), and I found a elevator at Barnes & Noble.

We left about 8. We actually had a good time at the mall...on Black Saturday.