$45.00 flip-flops...you read it right

I guess this blog will be a confession of sorts. A while back, I was out somewhere with my sister. I call her Laura but she could otherwise be known as "Stacy" from the TV show "What NOT to Wear". Now as this show title implies, the hosts go through a person's closet and tell the person what they have that they should NOT be wearing. Then, of course, the hosts make suggestions of better options. Now, while amusing on TV to hear their critiques, it isn't always amusing to be told that something you have on at that moment is a "not" piece of clothing. So, back to my story. I'm out with Laura when she tells me at some point that I need some more up to date/styly flip-flops. Well, as I told her, I thought wearing $5 Old Navy flip-flops was quite adequate in the style-department (versus the $2 Wal-mart pairs I'd usually have on). But, I guess this year is different and Old Navy is no longer "hip" enough. So this plants the idea in my brain of getting a nicer pair of flip-flops. You know, like a special-occasion type of flip-flop. Hey, when you reach my age, every little bit of "hip" (within reason, of course) is a must-do.

So, a few days later after trying to satisfy my quest for hipness at Wal-mart or Target, I check out the Rack-Room gonna' buy me a pair of nice leather-type flip-flops like everyone is wearing. Well, the leather flip-flops there cost between $25 to $35. So, with that I decide to go ahead and bite the bullet and buy the expensive (but hip) Rainbow flip-flops all the younger folks are sporting. Well, I look and look only to realize that these shoes are indeed too cool to even be bought at just any ol' Rack Room. So, a few days later, I head out to the mall in Cary. (You must understand that I NEVER go to the mall for anything). In fact, Libby had to be re-introduced to exactly what the mall was. We go and find the Rainbow kiosk in the center of mall. I, among many others, gathered around to try on my Rainbows. Did I want light brown, dark brown, thin sole or thick sole...oh what decisions I had to make. Finally I make my decision and hand over my $44.00 plus tax. I guess my cheapness did prevail a little because I did end up deciding to buy the cheapest style of Rainbow there.

So on the way home I'm happy but also feeling a bit like a glutton. I kept having thoughts back to some history class years ago. My teacher told some story about some era is the past where the rich people where such gluttons that they were eating veal (baby calves, as you know). In an era where a full, grown cow would have fed SO many more people, the rich gluttons were eating little calves. Somehow I pictured myself being one of those gluttons. I paid $45.00 for some hard plastic with leather straps that doesn't even cover my whole foot. Oh yea' included on the plastic and leather was a nice little cloth tag with a beautiful Rainbow on it. (Buying something for the tag makes me flash back to middle school.)

Even though I am happy with my purchase and no one MADE me do it, I haven't even mentioned all this to John. Mind you, he really would care less. However, I recall once when I went shopping at Old Navy. I bought a denim jacket and bought Libby some jeans. Now, the jacket was fitted and cropped at the waist. Libby's jeans had little worn spots on them. This was how the jacket and jeans were supposed to look. When I showed John my purchases he jokingly asked me if he needed to go shopping with me next time. I asked "why?". He said because your buying jackets that are too tight and jeans with holes in them. Therefore, I haven't really mentioned much about my new flip-flops and he probably hasn't even noticed them.

So, this is my confession of sorts. All I can say now is that I'm not due to buy another pair of flip-flops for about 38 years. Thus are our times.

On being a mother...

On September 5, 1999 a mother was born...me. This is what I think being a mother is about:

DEVOTION: "If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do well matters very much." --Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

GUIDANCE: "An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy."--Spanish Proverb

SACRIFICE: "A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie."--Tenneva Jordan

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE: "A mother's love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible."--Marion Garretty

SECURITY: "When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thought. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child."--Sophia Loren

JOY: "A lot of things make me happy, but Libby is my joy."--Amy Bynum


And in summary:

"Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother."--Oprah Winfrey

"To the world you might be just one person, but to one person, you might just be the world"--author unknown

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY EVERYONE!