Civilizing the Mall of America

They call themselves the Third Thursday Birthday Club at the Mall of America.

Many of them, most days, come to the Mall early in the morning to walk. They are in no hurry. Hurrying is something they are trying not to do, any longer.

At first glance, they seem accidentally to be at the Mall together, but then one notices that they are part of a community of people who stop and talk to each other. Passersby, like me, hear bit reports about how the arthritis is doing, or that Ethel was hospitalized last week for something, again. A few walk less than they talk.

They have been coming to the Mall for thirteen years, taking every third Thursday of the month to celebrate birthdays. Up on the third floor, in the north food court, they decorate tables, and bring plates and casseroles of food. There are flowers.

This month, they celebrated the birthdays of eight members born in April. All of them were born long before there was a Mall of America; about fifty years before. One of the group was born 95 years ago: 1916. It was during the first World War.

They are looking for new recruits to take the places of the fallen veterans of the passing years, but I--at 79--plead that I am on active duty at the Nokomis Beach Coffee Cafe each morning.

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