Two Friends, Two Babies, and a Shopping Mall...

...on Black Friday.

Yikes!

I have a friend who lives in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania. I worked with and for her when I was working for Highlights for Children/Boyds Mills Press back in 1994.

When I left Highlights in 1995 to work for the newspaper, we decided that since we were such good friends and didn't want to lose touch with each other, we would meet at a mall that is located about halfway between us.

So for the past 14 years we've done that, usually on the Saturday before Thanksgiving (though sometimes we have to adjust due to conflicts in our schedules). We meet to chat and catch up on each other's lives during the past year and do a little bit of Christmas shopping. But the trip is mostly just about visiting.

This year, my dear friend called to say she was too sick to come on our usual day. She sounded awful, and my heart ached for her. As excited as I'd been to meet up, I couldn't imagine her driving two hours to walk around a mall, all while feeling so crummy.

So we decided to postpone our annual trek. The problem was the only day we both had available was "Black Friday."

Black Friday.

Black Friday, the Friday after Thanksgiving, is synonymous with chaos. Read or listen to any news reports, and you'll know that it's not a day for the "faint of heart" shopping-wise. That made us both a little worried about choosing that as our alternate day, but otherwise our annual visit would have had to wait until January. [insert sad face here]

Anyways...

A quick call on Thanksgiving night confirmed that all was a "go," and we'd meet the next day at the McDonald's near the mall.

Part of our tradition has included my kids as babies. That way my friend gets to see our new infants and, even better, we get a wonderful "cart" for all of our shopping. *grin*

Since this year's infant is Ethan, today -- as per tradition -- I packed up my baby, said a quick prayer, and got into the car, hoping for quiet roads and an empty mall. Our evening-before confirmation call included the pleasant news that my friend's new granddaughter, who is a few weeks older than our boy, would be joining us -- an added bonus to our crazy joyous adventure reunion.

And it was joyous!

A fun day was had by all. Happily, I can report that the babies behaved, the mall was not chaotic, and the crowds had gone home to bed...

Phew!