Shopping

Thursday night I fed Avery dinner and whisked her out of the house. My plan was to exchange a dress I had bought for her with another in her size and maybe ramble around a nearby outdoor mall. When we arrived at the department store where I had purchased the dress we immediately started scouring the racks for the dress in the correct size. Once we realized that there was no dress in Avery's size we switched gears and started searching for an alternative. This is when my plan for some shopping fun with my youngest daughter started to fall apart. Avery is not a shopper. If I catch her on the right day, I can get a good couple hours of shopping out of her, but the searching and trying on of clothing is just not her thing.


Personally it is one of my favorite things, so the fact that she finds shopping "annoying and boring" disturbs me. I had her interested at the beginning of our outing because I had bought the dress for her in hopes that she would wear it when we go to see the show Wicked today. That's what I normally do, I go shopping and bring home items for her and place them at her teenage alter for her approval. If she does not deem it worthy it is relegated back to the bag and returned to the store. She was thrilled with the dress when I brought it home, but her delight soon turned to despair when she realized, the dress was not going to fit. I must admit I was extremely disappointed too. This meant we would be performing our sullen teenage shopper and dopey mother routine for shoppers and retail workers once again. What a performance it was too.
 We started at the original purchase location combing the racks for the dress or anything that would come close to the original. Avery was trying on item after item and getting feistier and feistier. When I could see that we were going down in flames, I recommended a change of venue. Perhaps a different store would swing us towards success? Sadly that was not going to happen, we spent the better part of two and a half hours spitting at each other like cats in an alley fight. The final straw for me was when Avery was staring back at me from a dressing room doorway with a too short skirt on telling me she loved it. "Really, this you love? Avery, there is no way I can take that skirt home and tell Dad that this is what you are going to wear to the show" Her reply was, "Why do you ALWAYS hate what I pick out?" I explained that because of her long legs some skirts that would be a normal length on most girls, turns into a loin cloth on her. She was not buying it; she was certain that our whole outing was to aggravate the snot out of her and was part of a bigger plan to prove that I am a superior being. 'Whatever Avery, let's go home", I said as I stomped by all the smirking salesgirls.

 As we made our way to the car I had to mention that her teenitude was not necessary. "Shopping is like hunting, you have your good days and your bad days, it is all about getting out there". Slowly, her heart started to turn and she quieted down. In hopes of changing the subject, I asked her if she had thought about what she might like to major in when she goes to college. She said she didn't know yet and we talked about all the gifts and talents she has. That's when she asked me "Mom do you wish you had gone to college?" I said I did, but that I did not have anyone cheering me on at that point in my life and so with no guidance I just floundered. "What do you think that you would want to be Mom?" "You know what Avery? I think being a Mom is what I was meant to be. I love taking care of all of you and being there for you when you need me. I could not have ever dreamed this life up; it is too good to be true." With one swoosh of my Mom wand, we left the shopping nightmare behind us and headed home.