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Who ever said shopping was fun was only half right.  While it is fun, it can be humiliating, tests your patience and ability to make decisions and is downright exhausting!

I was in JJill desperately looking for some outfits for a trip that would make me look 20 pounds thinner, not too old, not too young but just right.  While I was in a cubicle that glaringly showed every wrinkle, bump and lump I had, the saleslady escorted a mother and daughter into what she called “the suite” – a slightly larger changing room so that they could be together.  As I was determining what fit and what didn’t I could not help but overhear their conversation filled with easy banter, laughter, and updates about what was going on in their lives.  Listening to them brought me back to a different time.

23 years ago, I was the daughter of the mother/daughter duo.  Mom and I would go to Burdines (now Macy’s) when we needed a little lift in our clothing or more importantly our attitude.  In the Women’s Department we had our very own “suite” and we would be very upset if someone was in “our room”.  Could they not see the imaginary sign with our names on the door?  We would go through the plethora of racks and choose what we thought would make us look and feel beautiful.  We would carry into “the suite” a dozen or so outfits and begin to try them on.  And that’s when the laughter began.

“Mom, what do you think of this outfit?”

 “Well, if you’re becoming a lady of the evening – it works.  But you’re a mother of a beautiful girl who is very impressionable.”

 Okay, that outfit would go back on the hanger and into the “no” pile.

Mom would then try something on and I would say, “Really, Mom, you’re not THAT old “ or “are you trying to look like a teenager?” 

 “Oh, I just wanted something different” and she would put it in the “no” pile.

We would go back and forth, laughing at what looked ridiculous or what lost its appeal when it went from hanging on the hanger to hanging on us.  The laughter was plentiful and often so much so we would have to stop to catch our breath or control our weak bladders.  In between all of this we’d catch up on what was going on in our lives.  This would go on until one of us would put something on and go – “That’s it!  That looks great!  Mom, you look beautiful!  Loretta, that makes your whole being just light up!  And guess what, it’s on sale, lets buy two!”

As I listened to the Mother/Daughter Duo, I missed my Mom.  I missed those moments.  I was so sorry there weren’t more of those days.  But then I realized that I was one of those daughters that had those days to share with my mother.  I am blessed by these memories and can recall them at any time.  As I put back on my street clothes and sorted through what I was and was not taking, I realized that God had blessed me today with a reminder of what a wonderful mother He had given me.  A mother who not only taught me right from wrong, raised me to be a woman of faith, and modelled for me the woman and grandmother I needed to be.  She was fun.  She was also the mother I fought with, laughed and cried with, confided and commiserated with.  She was my best friend.  Twenty-three years later my mother still blesses me.

How fun that on this Mother’s Day through a visit to JJill and the Mother/Daughter Duo I never met; I was able to relive the blessings of the good mother God bestowed upon me.

To all the Mother/Daughter Duo’s – Go make memories!

Happy Mother’s Day!