3/18/2008 - post script

so there we were. my traveling companion, one k. taylor (sha-tay-tay if you're nasty) davis and i, at the end of my day's itinerary. my digital camera is bloated full of pictures. my notebook, literally covered in my illegible chicken scratch shorthand. i am, in a word, sated. we've been out on the dusty trail for roughly four solid hours (you didn't think this all happened in like 45 minutes, did you?) and i am considering calling it a day when it occurs to me that this friend of mine, this person who agreed to ride around in my smelly car all over hell's half acre all afternoon long, who actually kind of listened to me talk for longer than thirty seconds and didn't kill me or herself or both of us, still didn't have the one thing she wanted, the one thing she left the house today to acquire:

a kitchen table.

we went to four of the largest thrift stores in the greater memphis area, to no avail. there we were, in bartlett tennessee (i don't care what google maps says, it was bartlett god dammit), i had everything i needed (i was probably the only person in bartlett at that point who had everything they needed) but our mission was frustratingly incomplete. so what could i do?

we pressed on.

after a quick stop at walgreens for some granola bars and water, we were off. it was a blur, a flurry, a plethora of thrift stores in such a condensed time frame that if i tried to describe it here, i think my head would literally explode, and then where would you be, dear audience?

here is what it added up to.

bibles for china, macon road. nothing.

four thrift stores, an outlet store, an antique store and a flea market, all in two blocks of summer ave. nothing.

finally, in desperation, salvation army on danny thomas blvd, downtown. nothing.

all of it, for nothing. no table was found. our stated objective was unmet.

but you know what we did find? we found that with a little good humor, some snobbishly indie music courtesy of my ipod, a few granola bars and some good company, you can go to TWELVE (12) thrift stores in five straight uninterrupted hours and come out on the other side, feeling at least vaguely human.

twelve in one day is a record for me, ladies and guys. i've hit double digits before in some particularly frantic rushes, but twelve (especially in only five hours) is just beyond the pale. i felt bad that taylor didn't go home with a table, but we talked about it, and all told had no regrets. nothing even close to what she was looking for popped up, there were no close calls or near misses (that one couch at the salvo notwithstanding), really nothing to beat yourself up over in the long run.

and if i can pull back a little here and do some armchair philosophizing, i'd say that those are all appropriate lessons to take from a day like tuesday, march eighteenth, two thousand and eight, and hopefully from most other days as well.

that's all for me for this week. next week i'm thinking elvis presley boulevard, but it's going to take some serious chops to hack through it alone. anyone else want to come along and ride the proverbial snake?

yeah, probably not huh

take care of yourselves kids

smooches

d