rowing

I cut through the mall to get to the shop where I moonlight. Typically the mall is a quiet place in the early evening. Since I regard malls as barren, soulless places, I am okay with it being quiet. Good! I hope you’re all enjoying your dinner at home. Shop on Saturday, or in the afternoon if you can. Evenings belong to the loves in your life.

But tonight, rowers set up a rowing hotspot at the mall’s central hall. Up front, parents are watching their teens row.




I, too, spent hours watching my kids do events at malls. It was never fun.

Still, it is odd that I should have such strong negative feelings about malls. What’s wrong with shopping indoors??

I’m thinking that it all dates back to the early spring day a dozen years back, when I took my family to the Mall of America (in Minneapolis). It was a long drive for a mall outing (5 hours each way) and I gulped down maybe three double espressos to keep myself awake on the drive back. My gut never forgave me. (It was, indeed, rivaled only by the countless cups I downed during weeks of law school finals – to keep awake while my babies slept.)


In the shop, it’s quiet. Not a forest quiet, but a good quiet nonetheless. The mall will be closed by the time I leave, so I can’t cut though it then. What a relief. I wont have to look at drawn faces of shoppers and sellers at a late hour.

However will I deal with the Target store moving in across the street from my condo! They close at 11. And no, it’s not the same as going down for a dozen eggs at midnight at the 24-hour Sentry. Food buying is different. It just is.