My mother has unheard of strength. She spends days and nights preparing for Thanksgiving, baking cakes and pies, cleaning chinaware and rearranging the house to accommodate family and friends. On Thanksgiving day she sets the table, she carves the turkey, she makes sure everyone has enough to eat and sits and talk for awhile. After hearing conversations about the good 'ole days and who has the best potato salad, she slips out of the living room and heads to her bedroom to prepare for Black Friday. She returns to the living room geared up in her jogging suit and tennis shoes. With her purse placed strategically on her shoulders, she fixes her mouth to ask the 11-year-old question that I dread hearing each year after second rounds of dressing and collard greens. "Are you going with me this year?"
What kind of daughter would I be to send her out alone to Walmart on Black Friday. Black Friday at Walmart is not for the timid and although my mother is equipped with strength from the Harriet Tubman days, she can be a little shy at times. You must be brave when shopping during this mega event because you may need to stop the shopper, who is flying by you with the one item in their basket for which you have left behind the ham, dressing, potato salad, sweet potato pies, and ask them "Where did you find that?" Also, you can not be afraid to speak up and perhaps say to the lady who is itching her way towards the front of the line, "Uh 'mam, the end of the line is ten isles down at the Automotive Center." You see, when you are stuffed and sleep deprived, it takes tact and mindfulness when expressing yourself to fellow Black Friday shoppers.
You must be focused and strong to survive Black Friday at Walmart. When you're making your way pass the line that stretches from the Jewelry Department to the Gardening Center and you see scuffling occurring between shoppers who are losing their patience because they have been waiting in line for hours to get the 40" flat screen TV, you must not get involved, stay focused and keep it moving.
A true Black Friday shopper is strong. Strong enough to stand in line to get a ticket number, then stand in line for another hour to use the ticket and finally wait in line for another hour to check out. My mother's strength and tenacity is to be admired in the kitchen as well as in Walmart on Black Friday. I don't know many women who can, in one day, unload two stuffed turkeys, feed a house full of guests, and leave out of Walmart after midnight asking with a smile, "Where are we going next?"