Do you love shopping? I do not.
Shopping is not one of my favorite things. Our children would say, somewhat bitterly, that I hate to shop – and they would be right. The reason they are somewhat bitter goes back to their childhood, which they would have you believe was horribly deprived. Because their mother hated to shop.
As in, “All our friends, when their mothers take them to the orthodontist, get to spend the rest of the day shopping.” Our children got to spend the rest of the day motoring back home and probably finishing out the afternoon in school.
Wouldn’t you think they’d be over that by now? However, occasionally, one of them brings it up on our family thread, and the rest immediately chimes in, “Yeah, one time my friend Annie’s mom bought her a whole outfit when they were in Fort Dodge after seeing the orthodontist.” “Yeah, my friend Kathleen’s mom bought her a cool jacket.” “And my friend Lisa’s mom bought her some really neat dress-up shoes.”
And so it goes. The only one of our five, the lone male offspring, has no problem with not going shopping with his mom back then. I think I’ll leave him a little extra in my will.
I bring this up now because my I-hate-shopping-genes went on vacation last week when I went on a celebratory trip with friends to, of all places, West Bend. I say “of all places” because I don’t suppose West Bend is considered a sophisticated shopping mecca in the overall scheme of things. However, on this trip, which was to celebrate one of our friend’s birthdays, it turned out to be just that. I not only shopped with the best of them, but I also tried on a couple of dresses (I NEVER try on clothes in stores – it goes against my religion, or something) and actually bought two.
One is a very practical knit sweater dress, appropriate for church, which is about the only place I wear dresses anymore. The second one is a totally impractical, long black velvet number with a lace skirt, satin bow and rhinestone clip holding the bow in place. My friends insisted I try it on, then insisted, “Oh Molly – that’s YOU!”
Yeah, right.
“Where in blazes would I wear this?” I asked weakly (I was already teetering on the edge of temptation). That didn’t seem to matter to them, so I gave in to the peer pressure and bought the dress. It’s now hanging in my closet, giving the closet a really upscale ambiance. The dress, I hasten to add, was on sale for $6. I figure it’s worth that just as a closet decoration.
Please don’t tell the children about this adventure – it would spark another diatribe on the family thread about how I never went shopping with them. It’s a wonder any of them survived without intensive therapy.
Oh well.
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