Shopping with Mom

I spent the day with my daughter Christmas shopping.  It was one of those special days that I will always remember.  We spent an hour in Penn Sq mall, went to the outdoor outlet mall, and then to shops along 29th Street in Midwest City.  It was a cold day, the skies were overcast, and occasionally a slight mist fell.  The day was perfect with lots of laughter and giggling.  It felt like Christmas.

Tonight I am remembering my mom and all the times we had just like today, those perfect days when all is right with the world, when she could shop me to the ground.  But with life, things changed; it became harder and harder for her to get around, but try she did.  With lots of leave at my disposal, I would head to Prague to get her for some one on one shopping time.  Sometimes I could convince her to use the store's wheelchair which had a cart attached, and we would pile gifts all over the cart till that sweet little white-haired woman could hardly see over.  As she became more feeble, it became necessary for her to use a wheelchair full time, but we were still able to get out and shop. 

When I took her shopping, it was therapy for her and for me even with that cumbersome wheelchair.  She needed to get out and I needed to have that moment of feeling like all was right with the world again.  Even though we were at K-mart and pretty much just settled on gifts without much thought other than that will do, it was fun.  It put a smile, sometimes a grin, on her face.  She always wanted to go down the baby doll aisles and just look....she was probably remembering....probably the years she was buying four little baby dolls for four little girls.  I kind of like those baby dolls myself--got two of the cutest babies for the Toys for Tots this week.

Today was perfect!  I hope it was a perfect day for my daughter, too.  I hope it is a day she will remember.  

Memories of other perfect days:  Dad and mom used to come to Oklahoma City and Midwest City to Christmas shop.  Those were the days when we all made our lists and of course they wanted to make sure we go what we wanted.  With the ads in the Sunday Oklahoman in hand, they would strike off for Oklahoma City hoping to buy just exactly what we had on our list.  I am so grateful that I had a job where taking off to drive them around town was no problem.  We would have it set up to meet my hubby at What-a-Burger right outside Heritage Park Mall for a hamburger and a little relaxation before heading into the mall to continue to shop, shop, shop.   Great times, great people.