Return to Sender: Fall Into the... Fall

Dear Philadelphia:

I wouldn't say I had a particularly great weekend last weekend. I ended up doing something I really didn't want to do, because I am a woman of my word. But I managed to get a few hours to escape on Saturday afternoon, and because I was around the corner, I headed to the Old City Fall Festival in the part of the city most folks know best for First Friday. It was a beautiful day (quite a contrast to Sunday's storms), the crowds were out (but in a pleasant, comfortable way), and it made my weekend so much brighter that I almost didn't mind returning to my commitment a few hours later.

Unlike many of my friends, I've actually had occasion to be on North Front, Second, and Third Streets during the day. In the middle of the week. When nobody was passing out free plastic cups of wine and there were no cheese trays to be found anywhere. But I hadn't really ventured into many of the cute little boutiques that line most of Third Street. I'd walked past them, sure. And then I'd quickly averted my eyes so as to avoid being sucked into stores that I clearly couldn't afford, and kept walking toward my destination, which was usually far more boring. Last Saturday, though, I needed some retail therapy, as did my companion, who is also a woman of her word and was therefore stuck doing things she didn't want to do with me. As a part of the Festival (I assume), all of the shops, or nearly all of them, had signs out advertising their big! sales! I couldn't resist. I went in to every one of those stores. And I actually found them to be surprisingly affordable. At least when I was looking at the sale racks. I bought stuff, my friend bought stuff. We left happy and not too broke—we even had enough funds left over to walk down to Market Street and hit up the Franklin Fountain, where it was nice enough that we could sit outside and enjoy putting our diets on hold for the afternoon.

It's days like that, Philly, when I realize that, even if I'm not where I want to be, I'm happy where I am. Woman of honor aside.

Photo of a lovely street in Old City by Flickr user paytonc