#49- Malls

Malls have been important places for me throughout my life.

When I was a kid, my family and I would meet up with my cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents every Friday at Sherway Gardens. We would take over an entire portion of the food court and sit and eat and talk for hours until my brothers and I got bored and ran into the movie store to watch the film that was always playing in there.

When I got a bit older and wanted to go out with my friends on Friday nights we would sometimes go to the mall. Where else can you go when you have no money, but you want to hang out somewhere away from your parents? Answer: the mall. And so this is where we would hang out sometimes.

And now as I sit here unemployed and out of school for the summer, the mall has become a prime place for job hunting. Each store is like a fresh opportunity for me, a new hope that the person behind the cash will say they are hiring. The mall gives me a chance to show my potential employees a little bit of who I am, that personal touch that doesn't come with an online application, but is so important to any job.

So I am grateful for malls. I am grateful for all the times I have spent there with friends and family, for having so many different stores and cuisines from around the world under one roof and for having a string of stores that turn into strings of hope when I am looking for a job.