On Your Mark, Get Set GO! The Hazards of Shopping with Two Generations

I was tempted to stay home and scrub my house instead of going shopping with my mother and 8 year-old daughter Catherine this weekend. This was the first weekend I didn’t have work since the beginning of October and the house desperately needed my attention. However, I tried to remember the last time I dedicated a day to spending it with my mom and became a little upset. I’ve been so buried in work that I haven’t had a chance to hang out with my mom.

My mom is the type of person that people gravitate toward. She has this sparkling personality and is always interested in what you are doing and how you are doing it. Growing up my mom had strict instructions when my friends came over. She could have five minutes with them, then she had to leave. All of my friends loved (and still love) my mom. She is just that kind of person.

Not surprisingly, my daughter inherited that same magnanimous personality. In her school of 1,200 children, more than half, including teachers and administrators, know her by name.

That being said, this larger than life personality trait skipped me. I prefer to be on the sidelines planning and plotting whereas the pair of them wants to be the star. I am a t-shirt and jeans girl who wants to roll around in the yard with the dog whereas they would rather put outfits and shoes together and watch the Red Carpet on E!. See where I’m going with this?

Back to my point. Saturday I drove up to my parent’s house for a day of shopping. I wanted to get a head start on some sort of Christmas shopping and my mom promised to buy Catherine a Christmas dress and party shoes. When I arrived both ladies greeted me and off we went.

After a quick lunch we hit our first store-WalMart. I forgot to mention that both my mother and daughter LOVE a bargain and usually set a ridiculous price threshold for a grand item. Today, we were looking for Christmas dresses under $20. That trait of loving a bargain runs throughout my family, me included.

As we wander through the girls’ clothing section and find the $5 rack I spy the group of Christmas dresses sitting innocently in the next aisle. Mom and Catherine banter back and forth about which $5 shirt they like (of course they have opposing opinions and needed to make sure the other knew her specific point-neither listened to the other) and I sit back and stare at florescent lighting.
I thought that if I pointed out the dresses, maybe the constant monotony of reviewing every detail on each shirt would go away. Big mistake. Let me set the scene. I am standing safely behind the cart in the middle of the aisle as mom and Catherine ransack the $5 rack. The dresses are about 15 yards away.

Casually, I say, “Oh, I think I see the Christmas dresses,” and point toward the glittery, puffy dresses.

It all happened so fast, it took a few minutes to take it in. As the words were leaving my mouth and hanging in space I see my two well dressed, crazed relatives running down the same aisle and then the reflexes took over. As they collided into the aisle, they both go to push the other one out of the way so that SHE could get there first. My daughter goes flying into a rack of clothing, pops up quicker than I’ve ever seen the girl move to say, “I’m o.k.” as she continues towards the dresses, not thinking a thing of it.

I think they both realized how INSANE they were and we all start laughing. Luckily, no one wet her pants…this time. But that’s for another blog.

The funny thing is that we never actually purchased the Christmas dress because my mom and Catherine couldn’t agree on which one they liked. Catherine liked one and my mom liked the other. They were at an impasse.

It’s very strange to see how much we are all alike (or different). My daughter IS my mother and my grandmother to a “T.” Like them, Catherine is beautiful, larger than life and is a girl through and through. It’s amazing to see how alike they are even though I’m completely different. I’m actually just like my dad and we don’t shop.