The " Black Friday of '83" Story

It was an ordinary day. Getting up early to head to Service Merchandise to help Santa buy a Christmas present for our daughter Brynn. She has her heart set on a Cabbage Patch doll. We searched and searched and couldn't find one. Then we saw the ad for Service Merchandise. We also read that the store will have a limited quantity and you can get one if you get there when the store opens at 7:00 AM on Black Friday. 7:00 AM seemed like an outrageous time since the store generally didn't open until 10:00 AM. Well, I got out of bed at 6:00 AM and headed directly to the store. It was still dark. Shopping for a Christmas gift in the early morning hours is crazy. Can't imagine many people doing that. Was the 10th or 11th person in line and knew I was going to get a doll. At 6:45 AM they opened the door and told everyone they were sorry, but they only had a dozen or so dolls available. The moaning began in the back of the line which I couldn't see by now. At 7:00 the doors opened and I hustled in with the rest of the crowd. I had no idea where the dolls were located in the store, but I figured I better follow the rest of the crowd. There they were! A big stack of them. I grabbed two of them and headed to the checkout. Others saw that I had two and weren't happy with me, but hey, I was in line before they were. Headed home and snuck them in the door. Carol was surprised to see me back so early. Shortly after she got up she called her friend Margaret to tell her that we had a doll for her. Her daughter was the same age as our daughter and also wanted a Cabbage Patch doll. We picked out the one that we like the best and gave Marg the other one. That Christmas "Lauren" became the newest member of LDub's family and I had my first and only story to share with you about shopping on Black Friday. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.