There but for the grace of God...

I never used to understand why so many people liked to go shopping. Hopping in the car and going to the mall just wasn’t something I could ever seem to enjoy. Yard sales? That’s a different story!

But now I’m a stranger in a new place. (Well, fairly new… I have a few acquaintances, but no friends.) And all of a sudden, I’ve discovered a dormant love for shopping! OK, well, not really a love of shopping, but a big desire to get out of the house and go somewhere, anywhere, and do something other than unpack boxes and discipline children.

Yard sales are still my predominant form of shopping, and now auctions as well, but I also find myself just wandering up and down Wal-Mart’s aisles. And even as I unpack boxes and boxes of junk (both my own and some inherited from my mother), I’m out hunting yard sales and auctions for more stuff! Some of it is justifiable (I really did need those diapers from Wal-Mart), but I am doubtful that I really need to be doing so much shopping.

Why, I ask myself, am I doing this? Mostly, as above, to get out of the house with its overwhelming piles of work and a solitude shared only by two-year-olds. I’ve met a homeschooling mom at a yard sale. I’ve made side deals with people at auctions. I’ve had real conversations, even if only a few minutes long, with other adults. In addition, I’ve become vastly more familiar with the roads of my area and found some great deals.

Once again I realize I have been guilty of being judgmental. I used to think less of people who seemed to like shopping for the sake of shopping, but now I realize that I am no different. Instead of condemning others’ behavior, I should have been sympathetic, whether they loved shopping because of boredom, loneliness, stress, or just the love of the hunt coupled with the blessing of having enough money to pursue shopping as a hobby. There are many worse things shopaholics could be doing with their time and money than shopping!

=)