Fall of the mall

I'm fascinated by this whole "fall of the mall" phenomena. I remember in the late '80's my sister and I would pack up my son and his stroller and hit the mall every Sunday morning. We'd get a cinnabun and a mocha latta and sit and talk and then spend a couple of hours in the book store before heading home. It was our Sunday ritual.

But I don't think I've been to a mall in a decade. And like my other sister says, "I don't shop, I order."
When I want a book I look it up on Amazon and have it delivered to my kindle. There is no tempation to buy a fancy new journal or calendar. Or a book of poems. Or an art book on the remainder table. And who needs all those books lying around anyway? If I want to look at pictures, I've got Pinterest.

I like having all my credit cards paid off. And I like spending time sitting right outside my door. But I miss my sister's company. These days we mostly text each other. As for my son, he's nearly 27 and I rarely hear from him at all.

So while I hate the idea of going into the gloomy false light of a mall, and while I think the fall of the mall is generally a good thing for Americans, being that anything that de-consumerizes us can only be a good thing, I miss those Sunday rituals. I'm sure that is what my mother would say church is for and yet another of my sisters just joined my mom's church choir.

I'm sure living magnificently would involve going to a church but there's no church liberal enough for me in this town. And I like spending Sundays with my husband and he won't go to church. So on Sundays I have a ritual of trying to keep up with my email. Connect not consume is a magnificnet rule for Sundays!