Lazy Rainy Saturday

It was a lazy, rainy Saturday today. Well, it could have been a lazy day for sure, but instead, I chose to go shopping with the girls -- Patty and Jana.

Stepping out in the rain to go shopping brought back a flood of memories from my teen years in Falls Church, Virginia. We lived in the heart of Falls Church, just a couple of blocks off the main artery -- Route 7 -- or Broad Street. And our position was really about halfway between two malls: Tysons Corner and Seven Corners. My shopping friend was Sarah. She and I would walk to meet each other and hop on the bus along Route 7 to one of the malls.

Sarah is very organized and her purchases were always well planned out -- unlike mine. We would shop around, then sit on a bench in the middle of a mall aisle, with our low-fat Columbo frozen yogurt, and "people watch". We would make up stories about the people walking by -- some funny, some not so funny I'm sure. And then back on the bus to go home.

The summer days in Falls Church were sweltering -- my memories are of hot, humid, lazy days, and by mid to late afternoon, a thunderstorm would roll in for a bit. The humidity in that area is incredibly high. Whether or not it was raining, we were soaked! But not in the malls.

Today, Patty and Jana picked me up and we drove over to the south side of Edmonton to a place called Southside Commons or South Commons -- not sure which. While those two went to Mexx, I went across the way to a store that accommodates my unfortunately large size and found a pair of jeans. I wore the last pair out -- literally.

We went to a bookstore called "Blessings" -- I looked for the flute part to "Ancient of Days", without success. One of Jana's friends was there and they chatted for a bit. There was a CD that was playing that was great -- "Redemption Songs" by Jars of Clay. The song I really liked was "I'll Fly Away".

Then we took off for West Edmonton Mall -- the largest mall in the world. We did a bit of shopping. But what struck me there was actually on the ice rink in the mall. A few people were skating, but there were a couple that really stood out. One young boy -- perhaps 10 or 12 or thereabouts was a fantastic skater. We figured he had been to hockey camp for sure, he just glided across the ice.

But the real draw was a father and son that were out there for at least a couple of hours today, perhaps more. The father had on an Oilers jersey, and his son, who looked to be perhaps 5 years old (just a tiny little thing), also had on an Oilers jersey with a helmet, knee pads, and gloves. As I watched the two skate, I could see the father was really training his son to skate. He would glide around the rink, out of reach of his son, and his son at breakneck speed (for a 5-year old) was chasing him -- trying to catch him.

Around and around the rink they would go. I noticed the father kept very focused on his son, even though he skated ahead of him -- he knew when his son fell, he knew when his son was getting close, he was very, very attentive. And the son chased his father relentlessly! The father would suddenly veer right and then make a hard left, and his little son would follow faithfully along, doing the same thing to the best of his ability. It was like there was a length of rope between them that held them together, though the father never restricted his son's movements. Every once in a while, the father would let his son catch him -- he would catch him up in his arms and give him a big hug. The kid would laugh and laugh.

I had a great time shopping with the girls today. But the real story was about a boy and his father and the special bond between them. I could have watched them all day long.