Sunday, April 27, 2008

Husband Repository

We have a Hamrick's here in town that is a favorite shopping place for the blue hairs (I can SO say that because I am a regular shopper there) and right inside the entrance Hamrick's has placed benches that appear to serve as a drop off point for husbands. On any given day you will see an assortment of men ranging in age from early 50's to next stop death all waiting patiently for their women folk to redeem their claim check and shuffle them off to the next shopping stop that offers an additional 15% off on senior citizens day. I often wonder about these men who are sitting there in their plaid polyester shorts, brown vinyl sandals and black socks halfway up their hairless calves. The men sometimes talk to each other but the majority of the time they are content to doze in the warm sun streaming through the windows. In the not too distant past they were bank presidents, factory workers, salesmen, CEO's and Daddy's. During their working years these men made decisions, had their own friends, provided well for their families and I have to wonder if this is how they envisioned retirement. Were they happier working? Did they retire too soon? We devote a lot of time preparing for our working years and sometimes I think we need to devote the same amount of time preparing for retirement. If you are ever in Myrtle Beach and see an old sorta blonde, fat lady dozing on a bench at Hamricks it's probably me and you have my permission to snatch me up by the back of the neck and put me back to work.
You want fries with that?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is so funny. You know I just have to tell something that reminds me of... the time when I was about 5 years old and Mama told Daddy to sit with me and my younger brother at one of those benches on the outside of a similar store(long ago) while Mama and the 2 older sisters shopped. There was a inside bench also.Well being the brat I was, I jumped up and down,to see in, and spotted the older sisters. I would stick my tongue out as I jumped up. The oldest sister then stuck her tongue back out at me, much to the surprise of the man sitting on the inside bench, who thought she was sticking her tongue out at him. (whippings were popular way back then) and we got one.
Sorry about the long comment, but you always remind me of this and that.lol....

Jan said...

I love your comments and throughly enjoyed the story about you and your sisters. That SO sounds like my family!

Anonymous said...

I am glad somebody else noticed these men sitting at the entrance to Hamrick's! They all looked sort of resigned to their fate!
Love your blog; it will be a daily check in for me.