Friday Fille
Unfocused photo from behind, but not to far behind.
My mother and I are going shopping today. Usually, ever Friday she goes brocanting for her antique shop. Today is an exception to the rule, we are going clothes shopping which is not high on her list.
Years ago after a long hot day of working outside, wearing whatever and not fashionable we went shopping. It was late. Entering the shop the sales lady quickly gave us the once over, judging us unworthy of her time. My mother who despises clothes shopping wanted to leave the moment her feet entered the shop, though I pushed her into a dressing room and told her to wait. I came back a few minutes later with armfuls of clothes for her to try on.
One by one my mother tried on the different pieces, one by one I brought more things in. One by one she was delightfully surprised that everything fit, we walked out of the dressing room with arms full of clothing. The sales lady who was looking down her nose in our direction asked, "Can I put everything away for you?"
We shook our heads, "No, we are buying it."
"All of it?" The sales lady exclaimed!
My mom and I looked at each other, not so well dressed and rugged from a day well spent working outside, "Yes." We giggled.
When we arrived home we gave a fashion show for my dad he was pleased that my mom and finally gone shopping, he gleefully said, "You two should go shoping more often, I can see how much fun you too had, look how beautiful you are!"
Each time I came home from France my dad would give my mom a nudge, saying, "Dolores you should go shopping with your daughter." But my mother would wrinkle her nose, shake her head and say, "No, its okay, I have plenty." Though in actuality, her distaste for shopping remained, even though we held the memory of our "Big Shopping Day" high on our favorite memory list.
Since that infamous day, over twenty five years ago, we only went clothes shopping together one other time… the day after my Father died.
I remember it well…. my brother Marty drove us to shop after shop. I would jump out of the car, as he drove around the block. Peeking into one shop after another, giving it a once over. Then I would run back to the car telling him to drive on to another. I promised my mother that when I found a shop that had some clothes for her, she could then go into the dressing room and I would bring her clothes to try on. There wasn't enough energy for her to waste her time, if there wasn't a reason for her to go in. My mother sat sadly, motionless, while my brother drove from one shop to the next.
A few shops later I found one that had clothing in my mother's style. My brother parked the car, then lead my Mother straight into a dressing room. My sister in law Suzy sat with her as I went around the shop grabbing everything black that I could find. I didn't bother to look at sizes figuring if my mother liked something I could find the right size later.
I do believe my father had a hand on it that day… because miraculously everything I brought in fit her like a glove. Twenty, thirty, forty or so items later she had a new wardrobe for mourning. A dress for the funeral, a dress for her first grand daughter's graduation, dresses for the days to come, and for the Sunday masses she would attend. My mother needn't shop for a year or more, she needn't bother herself about the thing she disliked the most: clothes shopping. It was a sad day full of bittersweet blessings.
Oddily in the distant somewhere only moments behind us I could feel my dad beaming because we went shopping together. I thought that I heard him say, "Beautiful."
Today we are going shopping.
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