Last Chance!

I can't even guess how many emails I've received in the last two weeks that said something along the lines of "Last chance for Christmas savings!" or some variation of the same. This morning before a day of errands, I cleared my inbox; by 5:00 this evening I had 104 messages, most of them trying to get me to make a purchase and implying that if I didn't act now, I wouldn't be prepared for Christmas. I don't know how I ended up on so many lists! I buy online from time to time, maybe more than I had previously thought. I have had the same email address for about ten years. My son says that certain companies (hotel and car rental outlets, among others) sell people's information to marketers. I'm pretty careful with my information, but I have been in a lot of places this year, for work and training and volunteering -- not to mention all the establishments I visited on my escape to the Southwest. I've noticed in the past few months that not only has my inbox been more full, but also I get more unidentified calls than I used to. If I happen to answer one of those and it turns out to be a "phone-bot", I save it in my phone as Spam Marketer and know not to answer it the next time.

I've been on the run today since 9:00, and I'm hoping to be on the road by 6:00 in the morning tomorrow. I woke up at 4:00 for no particular reason, which is a well-disguised blessing because I am planning to be asleep within two hours (and have been ready to go back to sleep since I got out of bed). The road is long and boring -- twelve hours with two people and three pet-friends -- but our treasures await at the other end. For another brief and ever-more-fleeting flash of time, I will have all my boys together. Nothing anyone could buy for me would make me happier than that.