Before Black Friday

Before there was Black Friday, there was J.R. Hudson's, the retail palace of my years in Detroit.  So, when I noticed one Thanksgiving that the store was promoting an early a.m. opening on the day after the holiday, I asked the gals if they wanted to do a little shopping and some deli eating after.
We had so much fun that first year that we looked forward to it as a new Thanksgiving tradition. 

Then, as is true of so many commercial ideas, it morphed into a monster.  Families were robbed of their day off.  People fought and grabbed.  Now, it's not even a one day event.

What's wrong with us?  That's what I was thinking as Christmas music was playing in my garage -- a full week before Thanksgiving!

A Timeless Tale

I was chatting with a friend recently who mentioned a man we both know.  "He asked me out,"  she said.  "I mean he asked me to go for a walk and have coffee."  "How did that go?" I was curious.
"He got all romantic and I told him to back off."  "Really?"  I was impressed by her resolve.  Man/woman opportunities don't come up too often in oldster land.

"I don't want any man eventually telling me what to do," she said.  "But then he kept showing up so now I am seeing him.  But not all the time.  No, not all the time."

My mind wandered to the battles of the sexes on the big screen.  Bogie and Bacall.  Tracy and Hepburn.  Rosalind Russell.  These gals knew how to hold their own.

Yes, I've learned that actually the Hollywood studio system kept their stars pretty nailed down.  In a way, they were just as constrained in their lives as were the housewives who loved them.

Still. . .  we don't want anyone eventually telling us what to dream.