Shopping

Mom always says, "Nothing perks you up like a new piece of fabric."

I want to go shopping. Really bad. You know what I'm talking about. At least you girls do.

I just finished reading another spiritual lesson from Deepak Chopra, so why am I craving a trip to visit Gap, DSW and Express? Wait! A thought! Maybe it's in my spiritual make-up! It's not just a materialistic, selfish desire to have an incredible wardrobe consisting of trendy clothes and adorable shoes.

But seriously, despite the shoe fetish I share with 95% of the female population in America, I'm really not deeply attached to anything in my closet (except maybe my ratty U of Iowa sweatshirt from 1988, but that's purely sentimental). As a matter of fact, Stacey and Clinton could toss everything in my closet. I wouldn't even shed a tear. I'd look at it as an opportunity to go shopping. So, aha! It's the process, not the outcome.

Of course, this process of shopping has backfired on me a few times. I've suffered through many "Mother's Day" shopping trips with my kids and husband because they wanted to make it a special day for me. Ever done that? What's more fun than having your family follow you around, waiting for you to pick something out and be done with it already? "What else do you need?" "Mom, can I get this?" "When are we going to eat?" Doug, being the supportive husband that he is, yells at the kids, "Just stop it! This is Mom's day!" And the kids mope. We don't do that anymore.

The best shopping trip I ever had was a trip to Kansas City with my mother a couple of years ago to celebrate a milestone birthday of hers. It was pure unadulterated joy. With no time constraints, no moping and no whining we visited almost each and every store in the Kansas City Plaza. We laughed a lot. We only ate when we were hungry -- and just enough to give us energy for more shopping. And you know what? I didn't even spend that much. It wasn't about what I got.

It was about what we shared. And maybe just a little about the shoes.