Shopping

The Husband is a blessed man.  The blessing I'm thinking of today is that his wife, me, doesn't like to shop.  Yes, it is true and I have actually encountered other women with the same attitude.  The gene that most women are born with, the Shopping Gene, missed me and I am thankful.  Grocery shopping doesn't fall into this gene.  I don't mind grocery shopping.  Go figure....

With the era of online shopping, I am in my glory.  Sitting in the comfort of my home with my coffee cup and maybe even in my pajamas, I can accomplish my shopping needs.  There are no crowds to deal with or lines to stand in.  When I need to make a purchase I find my favorite shopping site, I begin scrolling through the pages, adding items into my "cart" and when I'm ready, I click to pay.  Within a set number of days, those packages arrive to my doorstep.  I figure the shipping charges equal the gas I would spend driving to the store and the other driving I would do if I left my house to shop.

Yesterday, however, I had to pretend I had that Shopping Gene and venture into a store.  See, Kidlet Three switched schools this year.  He is no longer attending the private school where he wore uniforms each and every day.  Those uniforms that I could purchase online.  Now that he is in public school, he tells me he needs more clothes.  Did I mention he is 13 and now starting to pay attention to what he wears? 

Honestly, his wardrobe has consisted of baseball and hockey tee shirts and athletic shorts.  When he asked me to take him shopping because he needed new clothes, I had a vision of him in a nice polo shirt with some jeans and that made me smile.   Maybe, just maybe, I could get him in something other than tee shirts and shorts.

We set off on our shopping trip and in the car we started discussing what store we should go to first.  There was a moment of delight when Kidlet Three gasped and said "what do you mean stopping at the first store?  I'm not spending the afternoon shopping with you!"  Which I translated in my brain to:  "I hate shopping just as much as you do, Mom".  We agreed on the first store and it was around 1:03 p.m. when I pulled into the parking lot.  

Once in the store, Kidlet Three headed to the men's area and immediately started grabbing athletic shorts in all sizes.  Then he headed to the tee shirts and grabbed two.  He turned to me and said "I'm done."    The thought of trying on those clothes had never entered his mind.  There was a bantoring back and forth that took place in aisle two of Men's Wear about trying on clothes when one goes shopping.  I won.  Off to the Fitting Rooms went Kidlet Three.  This is where he realized he doesn't wear a men's large (at the age of 13) so he needed to return several of the items he had picked up.  When I mentioned looking at jeans, he stopped dead in his tracks and looked at me with this exasperated frown and said, "I don't wear jeans.  I need sweat pants."

Two pairs of sweat pants, three pairs of shorts, one sweatshirt and two tee shirts later we were checked out and heading to the car.  As I looked at the time on the car dashboard, it was 1:45 p.m.  Score!  We had gone into that store with a mission and had accomplished much in a short time. 

Maybe next year he'll want a polo shirt and some jeans.  Or, maybe I'll buy those online and slide them into his room when he isn't looking.  Amazingly sneaky!!!