Shopping with Daddy

Scott hates clothes shopping. But after a while, it becomes a necessity. So once a year, usually following Christmas or his birthday when he has a handful of gift cards or cash to spend, we go on a shopping spree. When I say "we", I mean all of us. Scott needs me for opinions on how things look, and, well, I can't leave my crumb-crunchers at home unattended. So out we trot to the mall or a major department store for hours of consumer fun and stimulation of the economy.

Scott needed some good professional shoes and pants this year. So our first stop was Designer Shoes Warehouse. I thought I might be needed for some serious fashion advice, but Scott had specifications for his shoes that I couldn't help him with. So I ended up herding the kids to the other side of the store.

I figured if I'm going to be in a large, department store sized shoe place, I might as well have a little fun and try on shoes. "Come on, boys, " I said, and headed down an aisle. At DSW, in case you aren't familiar with it, the shoes are arranged in long, waist to mid-chest high shelves that divide the aisles. An "example" shoe is parked on top so you can see it easily and then you just look underneath to find your size. I just started ambling down the aisle, slipping on whatever shoe caught my fancy. To my surprise, the guys thought this was a great activity. "Here Mom!" said one, running with a shoe to slip on my foot. "I like the button on this one," said another. "Here Mommy!" chirps the little one, running with a shoe from who-knows-where (which we then had to hope we put back in the right place!) I felt like Cinderella, except with three princes. This happened all the way up and down the aisles.

"You will all make EXCELLENT boyfriends," I told them. We then decided to try on hats. That was funny, but didn't last as long. The purses didn't quite have the same appeal as the shoes, though the boys did offer opinions on those too.

By this time Daddy was done, we had spent a very enjoyable 2o minutes in women's shoes area. Though Daddy ended up dropping his wad at Dillard's by the end of the night, I can say the guys and I actually had fun on this shopping trip--a win-win situation.