Thankful for relationships...

was what I thought about on Black Friday. Weird, I know, and also a blogging day late, but at 5:oo a.m. your mind without coffee can go strange places.

Seriously, though, while I was getting ready for the shopping frenzy, considering the deals, I felt more than a tad ridiculous that this is what I was about to do--join the masses for lemming behavior at Wal's World. I also thought about the deeper reasons for why I join this quest.

Relationships. That would be the deeper reason.

Sure, there are some sweet deals that can be had. Sure, I can accomplish a month's worth of shopping in 3 hours. Sure, I am a morning person and being up one hour earlier does not tax me. All in all though, there is truly nothing in this world at any store, at any hour that is *worth* the whatever.

But, relationships are, and in the last five years, this has become its own strange ritual with my mom and my sister. We're like three generals plotting our strategies, negotiating terms, organizing timelines and most of all, committed to helping each other accomplish the day's tasks. That is worth the whatever to me.

My history with my mom and my sister has been topsy turvy over our respective lifetimes. Sometimes because of me and sometimes because of them and sometimes because three women in one house on one cycle are the original version of Weapons of Mass Destruction.

But on this day, this crazy event, we're linking arms to conquer the trivial. And in the conquering, there is unspoken acknowledgment that at the end of the day we're exhausted but triumphant. Together.

So, I'm thankful for relationships. Even when working on them involves the tiniest bit of insanity.