During most days of the year, I wonder why parking lots are so big. I think some roads are over built, and some shopping centers are foolishly optimistic about their own draw. And then I make the mistake of leaving the house during the second half of December, and I start wondering why anyone ever builds little two-lane roads, even as arteries through mall parking lots. Today was awful. I went out to mail two things, a box and a card, and I ended up being gone for over three hours, and I wondered whether I was ever going to see my Park again. I made errors in judgement, one after another as I went along. Mailing the box UPS meant I had to drive three miles one direction or the other from the UPS store to mail a card that had to go out today. Once I had gone as far as the main post office, I figured I would just keep going and get a few bottles of wine to bring with us on our holiday trip (even though I had a trunk full of groceries, including a few frozen items). And I think that was the most critical error. Now, granted, I went where there was a big sale on wine, and ended up saving something like $21 overall, but I'm not so sure that was worth the additional time and irritation. There was a lovely, jovial mood as I and a couple dozen other people waited in the line that snaked back and forth halfway through World Market, and we strangers chatted like we were all at the same holiday cocktail party. That ended the moment we stepped out the door, back to the bumper-to-bumper parking lot Gordian knot. How can such pleasant people revert to being such a-holes once their cars are surrounding them again? And why did I subject myself to sitting among them for upwards of an hour, probably being a bit of an a-hole myself (although I did try to let a few people turn in front of me, not wanting to be made entirely of bad karma in case Santa is really watching)? If the universe is kind to me, the last two presents I'm waiting for Amazon to deliver will arrive by Tuesday morning. If my life is cursed, they will not arrive by then, and I will find myself hedging my bets and buying similar items at higher prices, standing in the longest lines of all, just to come home to find a box waiting on the porch. The only thing worse than Christmas eve freakout shopping is a post-Christmas return line. That would truly be hell.
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