Drop to Shop

I had the most beautiful afternoon with my oldest son.

He heard that there was a men's clothing store going out of business and he wanted a new suit. He called me an hour early and said he could get off work and wanted to know if I had the time to drive out to Barry's so he could check things out.

Well, it wasn't convenient. But it could have been less convenient. I really had no where to be tonight, and so I told him sure. Even though the kitchen floor was still wet and I was finally sitting down for a bit of R & R before tackling the laundry, emptying the dishwasher, and vacuuming carpets. Instead I hunted for shoes and a purse and figured people would just have to deal with me in my fish dress, and I went to pick him up.

The first sign he was in a good mood--I'm sitting quietly in the car, finally getting a chance to crack the cover on Women's Day and all of the sudden with one terrific thud, his lunchbox lands on the hood of the car just in front of my windshield. Then his face is plastered on the passenger side window, his huge grin pressed against the glass. Lordy, he makes me laugh.

It was 1:30 PM when we set off on our adventure. I brought stuff to do because I know my son. Decisions take him FOREVER. But I left it all in the car. I browsed the racks with him even though I hate shopping. He was looking for "something tan." Never found it. But he did find a light gray suit in a fabric that drapes so beautifully that I couldn't help letting it fall through my fingers again and again. While he looked for another. (They were less than half price, and he's quit putting on the inches.) He found dark brown double-breasted suit. Yay! We're finished. It's only 3:00. Wrong. But he makes me smile.

There were shirts and ties to coordinate. Now my ds has been an artist since he was little. His delight in mixing and matching colors is contagious. Up until this year I have taken him with me when I buy flowers because he can mix and match the most lovely combinations of colors and textures, flowers and foliage. At any rate, we were there for quite some time deciding on shirts to go with the suits and then there were ties to match the shirts. He got it all coordinated and then decided that perhaps he should make sure the shirts were the right size. One was--the pale yellow with white color and white French cuffs. It looked so snazzy just resting underneath the suitcoat on the table. We found the second cream colored shirt for the gray suit in the right size, but not the mauve one. So the third tie didn't work with anything, but it was a cool tie. Couldn't leave that behind! And can we stop at Best Buy while we're next door so I can get a camera for my trip. And since Men's Warehouse is on the way I can look for a mauve shirt in there.

The mauve shirt in Men's Warehouse was too expensive for his taste. We found the camera he needed in Best Buy in record time. Then we headed for WalMart--would rather finish chewing up today then spend part of tomorrow shopping when he should be doing school, and can we go by the house because he needs to get his watch which needs a battery.

WalMart was a bust. No shirt and they couldn't get the back off the watch to provide a battery. Head to Heritage Park Mall where no one carries that color except Dilliards and they don't carry his size. The sales woman suggested we try the store at Crossroads (which happens to be right across from BEST BUY). I'm out of energy. That will have to come sometime when he's floating about with his buds.

Even Zales can't get the back off his watch to deal with the battery; there's some question that it belonged on that watch to start with. But they have a watch man who does their batteries, it will be in next Tuesday when his watch is back--can he be there at 10:00 AM in case the battery doesn't take care of the problem and they need to send it off with the repair man who shows up soon after opening on Tuesdays. He can't--he'll be at work. I will.

We got home at 7:30 PM. SEVEN HOURS! And he tried on the suits at home and I wondered why I let him buy them. I'm already swatting girls away that want to come see me. Uh-hem. Right! :) I just make sure he's not going to be here and then tell 'em come on over.

Oh but he and I had a glorious afternoon. Talking and laughing and his lovely smile and "thank you" with wide sparkling blue eyes when we got home. I am so excited for him about this trip--feeling that thread of a zing along my veins and I'm not even going. He gave notice at work yesterday and had half the store management collected, wanting to know what they had to do to have him come back. He's smart, he's quick, he's punctual and he knows how to work.

Long story short--I know, TOO LATE! It was worth it to leave the kitchen in the middle of mopping and let the laundry stack for another afternoon.

Spend time with your kids. I live for days like this, and I can't believe I was tempted to talk him out of it. Start early. Drop the dishes to rock them to sleep. Play in the sandbox when you should be vacuuming. And then you can have days like these when you're enjoying the personality of a person that has changed from an infant to a young adult before your very eyes but still wants you to take him shopping when he could go instead with his unending stream of buddies.

G'night from a doting mama. :)