The Mall and Why I May Reconsider Hating It

This has been an absolutely crazy weekend. I didn't know whether I was coming or going much of the time. On Saturday, my friend Kathie and I took our girls to the mall to shop for skirts for a contra dance. (FYI - It's much like square dancing - very folky - with live music. It is a very neat community event - with many generations in attendance, and dancing with one another. Our teens just love it!) But here is a well-known fact about me - I HATE THE MALL. So, it was a labor of love, far above and beyond the call of duty.

Why do I hate the mall you ask? First of all, since I typically only enter the mall at Christmas time - there are usually WAY too many people there. Secondly is this phenomenon, my brother has dubbed "the bumbling clown syndrome" wherein said crowds of people walk around aimlessly - headed nowhere- in groups with nobody leading and more or less turn in circles and spread out in such a manner that no other person can get around them. Also, things are too expensive at the mall for our one-income, fixed budget family. And last but not least, the mall encourages my propensity for materialism - a fact established firmly by the fact that I can't stop thinking about how much I want to go back to Victoria's Secret (yes, even if it means going into the Mall again) to get a bottle of the perfume "Love Spell" (and Pumpkin hand lotion from Bath & Body Works!!) that I didn't even know about the day before!!!!!!

But despite my aversion to the mall, and all things related to the mall - I had a lovely time. I was with my girlfriend who I haven't spent time with outside a group for a long time, and my daughter. It was a day of laughter - much trying on of clothes, a day of learning - Kathie and Tayva taught us about lattes and iced coffees, and just a lot of fun having a "girls day". I guess with good friends, and my awesome teenage daughter, even a day at the mall can be fun!

(By the way - after trying on 842 different combinations - the girls ended up getting the EXACT same skirt!!!!)