MUD Shopping

My daughter is in 8^th grade, and Wednesday is her Moving Up Day (MUD). As of this past Friday, we hadn't even started looking for a dress. My daughter isn't a shopper; she's an order online kinda girl, like her mother. However, with time this short, we couldn't order online.

I made up my mind that we were going shopping Saturday. We wouldn't return home until we had a dress, and if we were lucky, shoes to go with it. Before we left the house, I told my daughter that I was not choosing her dress for her. It was for her MUD, not mine. I already had my MUD many many years ago. I would give her my opinion if the dress didn't fit right, or I felt it was inappropriate. Other than that, the style, the color, the print, any of it would be her choice. She was quite happy about that.

My daughter had no idea what kind of dress she wanted. Sometimes, that works to your advantage, and sometimes it's harder to find something. In our case, it worked in our favor. My daughter took about 8 dresses in the fitting room, all of them were completely different from each other. She chose one that she looks spectacular in. It's by my favorite designer; On Sale.* We both love the dress!

Our quest began at a local mall, the one I've written about before.

I usually try to park near the store we want to go in so I can minimize my walking. On Saturday, I had no such luxury because I had no idea what store(s) we'd be going to. I parked near a department store where we started the dress shopping. Lo and behold, we found the dress at the first store!! We looked at that store for shoes, but we didn't find any.

We started walking through the mall. We looked in stores along the way, and before I knew it, we were all the way at the other end! The shoe store I had in mind was there, and we found shoes!! Now, as I said, I parked by a department store at the other end, so we had to walk back to the car. I am SO proud of myself because I DID IT!

Let me tell you a little about the mall. It's about a half mile long. Yes, about a half mile long. Two floors of retail Nirvana, for those of you who like to shop. I figure I walked over a mile, by the time we went in and out of stores and walked around the stores. I figured I'd be shot for the next few days, but I don't feel too bad.

There was a concert yesterday where one of my daughter's favorite singers was performing. The other night, I agreed to take my daughter and her friend to this 6-act, 5-hour outdoor concert. Remember what I've said about thinking I'm “normal”? Talk about a delusional moment.

Yesterday morning, my husband and I were talking and Looking at the weather forecast. After hearing the projected high temperature, he volunteered to take my daughter and her friend to this concert! He didn't want me in the heat and sun all day. I wasn't hinting or anything, he just said he would do it!

I'm betting yesterday would have sent me over the edge if my husband hadn't stepped in. My daughter and her friend had an amazing time, thanks to my extraordinary husband.

I am so fortunate in so many ways.

*One of my favorite Rita Rudner jokes.