I have a confession to make. While I always said in a million years I would never do it, I broke down last night. With all the hype, the advertising campaign, all my friends and co-workers talking about the event, I felt it was something that couldn’t wait, and it had to be done as soon as possible.

And so, I got in line around 7pm last night, anxiously waiting for midnight to approach. I wore no costume, though plenty around me did, almost inexplicably. Certainly those things affect range of motion, not to mention blocking anyone that wants to move around you. Not to mention, they looked awfully silly, grown men and women, out in public, people passing by, the television cameras…I was almost embarrassed for them.

But then I realized, this is something special, it doesn’t happen all that often, and this could be the last time it EVER happened, so I stuck it out and went for it.

The anticipation was almost tortuous. Constant checking of the watch, peering inside the glass-plated windows to look for any sign that our time had come. I had gotten there plenty early, yet I was still about 30 people deep in the line. I couldn’t believe the time some people had invested in waiting for this event!

Then, shortly before midnight, we saw movement inside. Signage being unveiled, registers being readied for the crowd that was to rush through any moment now.

And then it happened.

Time stopped for a moment, this massive throng of people, from all ages, all backgrounds, races, creeds, religions, sexual orientations (at least I think. I mean, these two guys in front of me were talking all tough about “hitting it” with the women that walked by during the day, but as the night wore on they got closer and quieter, and the way “Ray” licked Cheetos dust off of “Stan’s” cheek looks like they’ve had practice) all became still at once. The sound of the metal key clashing with the metal on the lock was almost in slow motion. Women held their babies just a little bit tighter, men drooled, and the blind guy (we called him “#7”, since he showed up and held the seventh spot in line, but you’d be surprised how easy it really is to cut in line in front of a blind man, he was somewhere near the back of the parking lot by midnight), but he smiled widely as his sharpened sense of hearing took over, knowing that the key meant we were all that much closer to our dream. As the lock clicked open, a roar over took the crowd. High fives all around, strangers hugging strangers, people kissing people, a blind man facing the wrong direction, it was euphoria!

The doors swung open, the bodies started to meld into one long winding snake of a line, emptying into the building, workers frantically pointing and showing the way.

Finally! There it was!

I can’t believe more people don’t get excited when Kroger changes their prices at midnight, especially when a deal like free Chips Ahoy! is involved.

Maybe its just me.