My Trip to Hobby Lobby

I've been sick with a cold the last several days. So Friday night I took Zicam Nighttime and went to bed. I remember getting in bed but not much else until Saturday morning's sun began gently drifting through the blinds.

We headed over to dad's house to get a few winter things out of the closet for Judy. We stopped by the cemetery and I visited mom and dad for a bit. We visited some of Judy's family, too. It was such a beautiful day here. It has been 5 weeks and one day since dad died. His marker has the date of death on it now.

I miss dad. I don't miss the Alzheimer's but I miss dad.

Then later we were driving down Western and Judy said "Can we go to Hobby Lobby?" Well, of course we could and we did.

The fellow that started Hobby Lobby lives out in Judy's general area somewhere. His name is David Green. I think he is about 5 or 6 years my senior. I read his biography not too long ago. It is titled More Than a Hobby: How a $600 Startup Became America's Home and Craft Superstore. He started out working in a local T G & Y Store. T G & Y was kind of the Wal-Mart of stores of my youth for those who may not know. At any rate Green and his wife, Barbara, started out with a little miniature frame business in about 1972 or so. And that eventually grew into Hobby Lobby Creative Centers which number some 386 stores at last count.

Our store was in a large strip shopping center and we had to park quite a little ways from the main entrance. When we entered I got one of the remaining few carts. Judy likes to have a cart to hold her purse. I like to have a cart to give me something to lean on and push and make me feel like I am of some use during the excursion.

There were a lot of people in this store. But the people were vastly outnumbered by the stuff. This store is really large. I think it might approach the size of a Wal-Mart - maybe 80% or 85% as big. And everywhere you look there are rows and rows of shelves. And on the shelves is all this stuff.

I think a lot of the stuff is from China. And a lot of it is painted. I wondered if any of it had been tested for lead. Wondered if I should get a mask or something. But then I had this fleeting vision of me putting on a mask and people panicking inside the store and the shelves all starting to fall against each other and things falling and breaking here and there. Hobby Lobby is not a good place for a panicked crowd.

I had no idea why we were in the Hobby Lobby. It is not the kind of store I would ever enter by myself, willingly at least. I had been in this one another time, also with Judy. I will pretty much go anywhere she asks me.

I dutifully pushed my cart in front of me as Judy led us up and down the aisles. She stopped a woman who was wearing an apron and had some kind of tag. I learned we were hunting some kind of figurine for a grave ornament. The saleslady knew where some were and took us to them. But they decided that a laughing horse wasn't really the right kind of figurine.

There were so many things inside the Hobby Lobby that it kind of made me feel a little out of balance - like losing your balance in the shower sometimes - or maybe it was my illness. And then it started feeling kind of tight and closed in - a little claustrophobic. I felt light headed.

I watched others in the store while I was following. There was a group of women that had found a large metal cross of some kind. They were very happy and one lady was clutching it tightly to her body. I cannot imagine feeling such happiness over such an object. I wondered what in the world was so special about that cross.

Then there were others here and there - mostly ladies - but a few men. All of them seemed intent on hunting something. I could not tell if they were having any success or not. Frequently they would pick up something and examine it in close detail and then return it among the others of its kind. I don't know if that's good or bad.

I could not help but think of the Chinese workers who had made these things. I wondered if they were made one at a time in a cottage type industry or if they were made on some kind of line with division of labor by task. I wondered if they knew about the Santa Claus figures they made or the religious images or even the laughing horses. They were pretty good craftspeople.

I asked Judy what was down at the other end of the building. She said it was fabrics and craft items and so on. She asked if I wanted to go down there. I didn't.

We left empty handed after about an hour.