Lessons learned at the mall

I went to a shopping mall on Sunday. That may not seem all that momentous until you learn that I loathe going to a mall. Loathe with a capital "L". Shopping at a mall, for me, is an occasional necessity: it is not sport, nor hobby, nor entertainment. There is nothing wrong with shopping being any of those things for other people but they just aren't for me. I don't care to window shop, I don't like the crowds, and since yarn stores and liquor stores are rarely located in malls, there just isn't much of interest to me. If I need to buy something at the mall, I park near the store I need to visit, and get in/out as quickly as possible.

Just to show how little I like going to malls: the last time I wandered around a mall just to wander around was the summer of 2011 when my mother visited, it was 95 degrees in the shade and we needed a cool place to spend the day. It was still a relief to leave.

Aidan and a friend wanted to see a movie* and the best theaters in our area are located in malls, so off we went. We arrived around 12:45 and it was already packed. On a Sunday. On a beautiful Sunday. James just chuckled at me as I pondered why anyone would want to spend a beautiful Sunday afternoon at a mall.

The people watching was, of course, astounding, and the following maxims were made abundantly clear:

• There should be a weight limit on spandex leggings or, at the very least, should have a "contents under pressure" warning label. I can say this as an above ideal weight person who never wears yoga pants outside my house.

• Teens and tweens travel in packs, much like birds and/or wild animals. Unlike birds and wild animals, however, they do not move in concert or instinctive precision, but mill about and bump into one another and total strangers.

• Couples should never, EVER dress alike. This truth crosses all gender, racial and age lines.

• A little animal print goes a long way. I adore me some animal print, but as Julia Child said, "Everything in moderation." Animal print as an accent is perfectly fine but head-to-toe animal print is wrong on many levels. (The actual quote is "Everything in moderation, including moderation" but the last two words didn't really fit with the point I am trying to make so I left them out. It's my blog, so I can.)

There is some good that comes out of a trip to a mall: my self-esteem gets a real boost. By wearing age appropriate clothing that is clean and fits my body, washing my face and combing my hair, I am already ahead of the pack. The pack wearing matching too tight leopard leggings with a zebra big shirt.

*Speaking of movies, I am not really much of a movie fan; I almost always prefer to read a book. But we weren't going to let two ten year olds sit in a movie theater without us and they wanted to see "Oz the Great and Powerful", so that is how James and I ended up watching a movie in which we had no interest. I look at it as two hours and ten minutes of my life that I will never get back.

Dear Tooth Fairy

Just after going to bed on Sunday night, Aidan had another tooth come out. In our rush to get his mouth rinsed out, the tooth cleaned and the boy back to bed, we did not take the time to find the official tooth container and Aidan put the tooth in a zip bag instead.

When we went in later to swap the tooth for the dollar that the Tooth Fairy leaves at our house, we couldn't find the bag under his pillow, in the covers, anywhere. Rather than risk waking him by continuing to search, we simply left the dollar under his pillow.

The next morning, Aidan was very puzzled to find both the dollar and the tooth in his bed. He was also a bit disappointed. During the night, he woke up and wrote a note to the Tooth Fairy, which he then placed in the bag with the tooth*:

 

Had we found the bag and read the note, we would have complied with his desire for additional money. Aidan decided right after Christmas that he wanted a tablet for his birthday and we told him that he would have to put up about half of the money, so he would feel more ownership and responsibility. He has been diligently saving ever since, setting aside Christmas money from Grandma Williams, Valentine's Day money from Grandma, Aunt Tammie and Uncle Mike, and weekly allowance money. We have been impressed with his efforts and he will, indeed, be getting a tablet later this month.

I mumbled some silly comment about the time change messing everyone up or maybe the Tooth Fairy just couldn't find the tooth in the tangle of bed covers, but Aidan was still a little letdown...and at a loss as to what to do with the tooth. I told him I would take care of it, and after Aidan threw away the note, I retrieved it from the trash to show James. 

Sometimes when I despair that my little boy isn't so little anymore, he says or does something that reminds me that he still has a foot firmly planted in innocent childhood, like belief in the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. Whew.

*I removed the tooth before scanning the bag/note. You're welcome.