Shopping

I like to shop. I don't think anyone reading my blog would be surprised by that statement. My mother likes to shop, and my Grandma Wager liked to shop. Shopping has been a favorite past time for generations in my family.

Shopping was different depending on who we shopped with. For instance, shopping with Grandma Wager was a marathon event with little regard to cost. Laura and I were the only two grandchildren on Mom's side of the family- whereas on Dad's side, there are 15 grandchildren. Mom's parents moved to Florida when I was four. We saw them only a couple of times a year. In 1987 or so, we started taking two weeks' vacation and going to Florida in February. This coincided with the Daytona 500. Dad had tickets to the race, and we stayed with Grandma and Grandpa because they were about 30 minutes from Daytona.

Grandma saw these two weeks as the chance to make up for the other 50 weeks that she did not see us. So we went shopping. We would go to Deland or Orange City, and hit strip mall after strip mall. Grandma was very fair when it came to shopping. If she spent $300 on me, she spent the same on Laura. We went to grand stores like Belk Lindsey or Dillards. They seemed grand at the time anyway. And very exotic- we did not have Dillards in NY. Belk Lindsey always had the prettiest dresses- I felt like I was in Heaven. Satiny skirts, ruffles, pleats. Dresses that were far too extravagent for the playground, but Grandma still bought them for me. I think Laura must have hated Belk because she hated to wear dresses. If Laura didn't find anything in Belk, we would move on to the next store. When the races were over, we would go to the big mall in Daytona. There we would find more outfits. I have a memory of standing at the checkout with Grandma, and she pulled out her wallet. The credit cards were in an accordian style holder, with a flick of her wrist, the collection of cards cascaded towards the floor. She asked what store we were in, found the appropriate card, and charged it. Time may have exaggerated this memory a little, but you get the idea. Grandpa hated to pay for anything with credit, but he never stopped Grandma. Maybe because he was usually home. We would go home, laden with bags from every store imaginable. And then the best part started- the fashion show. We went into Aunt Arlene's room and spread our purchases out on her bed. We tried on outfit after outfit, parading through the house to show my Dad and Grandpa. We even tried on the shoes to show them (because you cannot have all those outfits without appropriate shoes!). Dad and Grandpa would give us their opinions of the outfits. We could have given the models on the Milan runways a run for their money!

Grandma could shop until we dropped. And then some. We would shop all morning, have lunch, and then shop all afternoon. Laura and I would return to the house totally exhausted, and Grandma would then make a three course meal for dinner. Next to her cooking, I miss shopping with Grandma the most.

Shopping with my mom was a different experience. JCPenney was one of our favorite stores. I was so excited in college to get a job at the local JCPenney. Mom did all of our school shopping at JCPenney. They used to offer layaway, so it was a good way for her to buy things for us. Mom taught us it was fun to shop, but it was even more gratifying if you found a sale. You felt better going home with a car full of packages if you didn't spend a fortune on those items. When Mom & Dad bought a new car, one of the first ways we tested it was to take the car shopping. That way we knew how much could fit in the trunk. In 1988, Mom and Dad bought a Ford Taurus Wagon. It was our family's first station wagon. I remember Mom picked up the car during the week, and that weekend we went shopping. We went to the Berkshire Mall one day, and to Bennington, VT the second day. In Bennington, we bought new bikes for Laura and I. And hauled them home in our new wagon! When I bought my Rav4 in 2006, Mom and Dad came out for my birthday. I'd had the Rav for two weeks at that point. Mom and I went shopping. We piled bags into the Rav, and didn't even fill the back end. We took that as a sign we could keep shopping.

Because Mom and Dad live a distance from stores (the closest mall of any kind is about 20-30 minutes away), going shopping usually included getting lunch. It might have been a quick bite in the food court, or going to Wendy's for the massive salad bar (I wish they still had that-- the garlic bread was incredible). We came to associate shopping with eating out.

We now have a new generation that loves to shop. One of Sydney's first words was 'shopping'. My dad just shook his head and laughed. Sydney even likes going to the grocery store. On her second birthday, Dad and I had Sydney in the car and were running errands. We had to stop at the grocery store, so Dad drove in the back way, thinking she wouldn't know what we were doing. It was pouring rain, and his plan was to send me into the store to get what we needed, and he would sit with Sydney in the car. His plan didn't work, because as soon as he pulled into the driveway, Sydney started jumping up and down in her carseat, saying 'We're going shopping!' So we all had to go into the store, and she was in her element. Later we found out Mom goes in the back way to that store, so Sydney knew it led to the store.

She will tell you she 'needs' to go shopping. Sydney is our own Immelda. She has a lot of shoes. Mom took her shoe shopping earlier this year (or maybe it was last fall), and she came home with 9 new pairs of shoes! I couldn't imagine what a 3 year old needed with that many pairs of shoes. She loves clothes just as much as she loves shoes. And books. And toys. She really doesn't discriminate when she goes shopping. She walks into the clothing department (or the book store) and she wants this and that and this and oh-this for sure!

Sydney has also learned that when you go shopping, you eat out. She does not consider it a shopping trip unless you have eaten. When I was home in October, we all went for a nice Sunday afternoon dinner to a very nice Italian restaurant. We had very large meals- bread, salad, our entrees, and dessert. Most of us had leftovers that we were taking home. I had to go to Target after wards to pick up a couple of things I had forgotten to pack. Sydney went with Mom, Dad, & I. Mom & I went into different checkout lines, and as I was paying, I could see Sydney pointing to the snack bar and talking to Mom, who was laughing. When Dad & I joined Mom & Syd, we asked what was so funny. Sydney had said to Mom 'Do you want to get a bite to eat?' and pointed to the snack bar. Mom said 'No, honey, we just ate, remember?'. To which Sydney responded 'Yeah, but don't you want to get a little something for later?'

30 years ago, we had three generations of women shopping- Grandma, Mom, and Laura and I. After a decade or so of just the two generations, we now have a third generation again. It is a past time the women in our family continue to enjoy. The best shopping trips have my favorite girls, lunch, and a great sale!