Thought of the day - shopping

Yesterday, I had to do some shopping.  I hadn't been shopping, except for groceries, in a long time.  Having a steadier income does make a difference, sometimes.  It was nice to know that I could go out shopping to get something I needed for a change.  And I needed some new clothes. Not a lot, but a few things.  This morning, the handbell choir I am in at church is performing (that'll be a whole different blog I imagine) and they decided at our last rehearsal that we'd wear black and white with purple accents.  Well, I don't own much black or white besides tee shirts and I don't think that's what they meant.  And you can throw purple accents out the window....wasn't spending my hard earned money on something I'll wear once.  But, I figured I could use some new pants anyway....I'm getting tired of only wearing khaki lately. I decided to go to Hamrick's to shop.  They have great prices and sales there.  Sure, it's not high end stuff and some of it is cheaply made, but when I end up paying $2.40 for a long sleeve button down white dress shirt, I don't really care about that.  It'll serve its purpose until it falls apart. 

I left my cozy little neighborhood and headed out the pseudo back way to Hamrick's.  I opted not to take Wendover on a Saturday morning as traffic going to Walmart, Sam's and Costco's can be tremendous.  Anyway, as I was driving down Gate City Blvd...aka High Point Road, which it will ALWAYS be to me...I felt like I was in a different city.  I left the tree lined streets with cozy houses and drove through miles of shops and strip malls, both full and empty ones.  The atmosphere was totally different from where I'd been only a few minutes prior.  Not bad, just different.  Instead of trees, there are signs lining the roads.  Instead of distinctive houses, there are cold, angular buildings free of personality.  And lots of traffic.  I guess lots of people like to do their shopping on Saturday mornings...go figure. 

This reminded me of going shopping for clothes with Mom when I was growing up.  We would leave the lazy, quiet town of Monroe and head towards the big city of Charlotte to shop.  It was just about the same feeling leaving the streets of houses and small town shops for miles of box stores and stop lights.  Of course, those were the days when there was still land and trees between Monroe and Charlotte...not so much anymore.  We would go to someplace such as Hamrick's.....usually TJ Maxx and fill up the cart with clothes.  I didn't know at the time that this was a discount store, but that didn't matter.  Stores like Belk's, in our illustrious Monroe Mall, were only for special purchases because let's face it, they were expensive...and still are. 

It was always a fun trip for us and I miss that, obviously.  But yesterday was fun for me as well, even though I was by myself.  Finding bargains is a good thing.  Styles may have changed in the last 30 years, but the stores are pretty much the same.  Towns and cities may have changed in the last 30 years but the feeling I got from driving from place to place was the same.  I enjoyed that feeling and I plan on making that drive again if for no other reason than to experience that feeling again.

That is all.