I was recently the baptism sponsor for both my friend Mark's future sister-in-law, Lindsay, and his very first niece, Ella. I had been helping Lindsay get ready for baptism for a few months, but being Ella's godmother was a last minute, but very exciting, honor for me.
The same weekend Ella and Lindsay were getting baptized, I was also putting on a baby shower for them. In addition to the two baptism cakes - a white cake shaped like a cross and a chocolate cake shaped like a Bible, complete with a Fruit by the Foot bookmark - and the preparations for the shower, which included a fruit tray, a vegetable tray, cheese, crackers, two kinds of dip, three kinds of sausage and a homemade from scratch chocolate chip cheesecake, not to mention decorations, folding chairs, and games with prizes, I was also spending 16 hours a day the five days prior with my clients on a camping trip at Beaver Creek.
If you have ever been on vacation with a teenager, or been a teenager on vacation, you know that:
Let me tell you: a cause for celebration if I've ever seen one! I always joke that my eyes are like a Siren's song, but I have met my match in Ella: I see babies all day, every day, but there is something about her. I nearly ruined every picture, because I couldn't break her spell long enough to look at the camera!
On my way back to the city after the baby shower in Warman ... soaked to the skin due to loading my car in a downpour ... that I drove faster than so that everyone in Saskatoon probably wondered, "What's up with her?" ... 16 hours away from "splash down" ... totally plauged with doubt that I can be an appropriate role model for such an sweet, perfect, innocent creature as Ella ... I found myself running around Pennington's like a crazy woman, fifteen minutes from closing, grabbing anything that might be my size for a last minute try-on.
They day before, I'd been at Winner's at closing time. When the salesgirl refused to let me try on "just these four shirts" because "we're closed", I began angrily putting them on over my clothes in the midst of the aisle and calling out to random shoppers, "Hey! How does this look?".
Today, I'd planned a little better, and the store was also somewhat more charitable, saying I didn't need to rush. "That's okay," I told them, "I'm just going to buy this white skirt".
However, when I arrived at the till, the salegirl informed me, "Ma'am? Is this the skirt you wanted to buy?".
When I said, "yes", she politely informed me, "Ma'am ... this is not a skirt. This is a halter top".
"A halter top?" I said in disbelief.
She pointed out several manequins sporting my "skirt", and said, "See? It has this built in bra".
"I thought that was a tummy panel!" I said.
She politely said that she had never thought about it that way, but it could be used as a tummy panel, and I could wear it as a skirt if I really wanted to and no one would probably ever know ... except for the fact a bra is meant to accentuate what is inside it, while a tummy panel is meant to do the opposite.
I bought the thing more out of embarassment and desperation then anything, and headed outside ... just as the torrential rainstorm caught up to me.
I did wear my "skirt" the next day: under a sweater.
The same weekend Ella and Lindsay were getting baptized, I was also putting on a baby shower for them. In addition to the two baptism cakes - a white cake shaped like a cross and a chocolate cake shaped like a Bible, complete with a Fruit by the Foot bookmark - and the preparations for the shower, which included a fruit tray, a vegetable tray, cheese, crackers, two kinds of dip, three kinds of sausage and a homemade from scratch chocolate chip cheesecake, not to mention decorations, folding chairs, and games with prizes, I was also spending 16 hours a day the five days prior with my clients on a camping trip at Beaver Creek.
If you have ever been on vacation with a teenager, or been a teenager on vacation, you know that:
- Teenagers never find anything that you find fun to be "fun".
- If teenagers ever find anything that you find fun to be "fun", they would rather die than admit to you that they are having "fun".
- Teenager's entire mission on any vacation is to take any "fun" that you are having and crush it beneath the sole of their shoe. Hard.
However, they needn't have worried, because I was having as lousy a time as anyone, trying to referee their disputes, driving people to appointments and summer jobs and worrying about the crushing weight of my own social calender.
"So, why did you even take them?" Mark's mother asked me.
"Well, because it's just so much fun," I told her from between gritted teeth.
In light of all of this, I decided that I needed a new outfit ... possibly two ... because I didn't have enough to do.
I tend to prefer a lot of black, especially when it comes to dressing up. That means that I am usually pretty set for funerals, but somehow, I didn't feel it was appropriate for a double baptism: not only was it the middle of July, but, look at this sweet, sweet face!
Let me tell you: a cause for celebration if I've ever seen one! I always joke that my eyes are like a Siren's song, but I have met my match in Ella: I see babies all day, every day, but there is something about her. I nearly ruined every picture, because I couldn't break her spell long enough to look at the camera!
On my way back to the city after the baby shower in Warman ... soaked to the skin due to loading my car in a downpour ... that I drove faster than so that everyone in Saskatoon probably wondered, "What's up with her?" ... 16 hours away from "splash down" ... totally plauged with doubt that I can be an appropriate role model for such an sweet, perfect, innocent creature as Ella ... I found myself running around Pennington's like a crazy woman, fifteen minutes from closing, grabbing anything that might be my size for a last minute try-on.
They day before, I'd been at Winner's at closing time. When the salesgirl refused to let me try on "just these four shirts" because "we're closed", I began angrily putting them on over my clothes in the midst of the aisle and calling out to random shoppers, "Hey! How does this look?".
Today, I'd planned a little better, and the store was also somewhat more charitable, saying I didn't need to rush. "That's okay," I told them, "I'm just going to buy this white skirt".
However, when I arrived at the till, the salegirl informed me, "Ma'am? Is this the skirt you wanted to buy?".
When I said, "yes", she politely informed me, "Ma'am ... this is not a skirt. This is a halter top".
"A halter top?" I said in disbelief.
She pointed out several manequins sporting my "skirt", and said, "See? It has this built in bra".
"I thought that was a tummy panel!" I said.
She politely said that she had never thought about it that way, but it could be used as a tummy panel, and I could wear it as a skirt if I really wanted to and no one would probably ever know ... except for the fact a bra is meant to accentuate what is inside it, while a tummy panel is meant to do the opposite.
I bought the thing more out of embarassment and desperation then anything, and headed outside ... just as the torrential rainstorm caught up to me.
I did wear my "skirt" the next day: under a sweater.
posted by Karen | Friday, August 01, 2008
1 Comments:
ugg, don't even mention clothes shopping. It sucks when your boobs and your belly take different sizes... I think I am going to start buying 2 shirts and sewing them together... dido with pants and thigh vs waist.
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