Tonight I had a rare treat. I went grocery shopping by myself. I detest shopping, and having someone along for company makes the task tolerable. Tonight though, I actually enjoyed being alone.
When I lived in Hawaii, I used to go shopping with Deeonly1. Sometimes with children, sometimes sans children. When we had the little darlings with us we would arrive at the store and promptly swap children and go shopping. Swapping children for shopping was fun! As you are not likely to buy them anything, they never ask you too. When they reach out to touch something, you gently remove their hand and say in a calm and soothing voice, "Don't touch dear." You make small talk with them so they won't be afraid and want their own Mommy. It's all very pleasant.
Deeonly1 and I would be shopping separately, but we would keep an eye on each other in case the real Mommy had to take over and to show each other cute little items we had seen. It was like a game of peek-a-boo. "Oh look! There's your Mommy. Let's go show her this sweater." You arrive at where you last saw her and you just see her turn the corner. You race up to the next aisle, and she's not there. "Where'd your Mommy go?" Next aisle, "Ah! There she is!" Sweater shown you swoop away to shop some more.
Sans children shopping could be very dangerous. Deeonly1 would get me lauging so hard, I would need to keep a mental map of all the restrooms in every store we shopped in. We would wander about looking at this and that, with no real shopping list. We'd pick up positively hideous pants or shirts and ponder who would wear such things. We'd ask each other just what did we think our spouses would do if we came home in that.
It was always fun. I haven't had fun shopping with a friend like that in years. All the people I know don't have time. They want to stay home with their husbands at night, (rightly so, but once every couple of months couldn't hurt!) they can't go when I can go, or they think shopping with a friend is abandoning their children and akin to teen hanging out. It's on the verge of bar hopping.
Do I look like the kind of person that would stand about with scraps of clothing falling off, showing disdain for the world and "old" people? Has anything I have ever written about given you the impression that I would eyeball other males? I had no idea shopping with a friend for fun could be a social statement.
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Feb. 18, 2006
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Want to swap kids?
Feb. 18, 2006
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Feb. 18, 2006
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Oooo...
Feb. 18, 2006
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Shopping
Feb. 18, 2006
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Feb. 18, 2006
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Then I realized that I was "dating" my friend way more than my husband and we cut way back. Now she lives 40 minutes away and it isn't feasible to do weekly shopping together, or evening monthly :) It was fun though, while it lasted.
Now I shop with my husband. Not the most romantic date, but it is fun. Sometimes we take one of the boys, sometimes not. If Doug has had a very busy week, I'll take one or two boys shopping on Friday.
OK, I tending to blabber on and on when commenting in the morning. I need to stop that LOL.