Chinese, Wine and Bargains

There is something so powerful about spending time with a bunch of women you care about. What you do doesn't matter. Where you hang out doesn't matter. The only thing that does matter is finding time to get together on a regular basis - something me and my gals seem to have had a little trouble with lately. One weekend wasn't about to rectify a year's worth of neglect but no one can say we didn't try.

I was late, as usual, so they start ed without me. By the time I arrived, cranky and tired from driving all day (car shopping with my kid but that's another story), they were already on their second glass of vino. We ordered Chinese and I tried to get less cranky. The wine and the lo mein did their magic and I managed to relax long before we sat down to watch old home videos - yes, home videos. There is nothing that my daughter and her cousin like doing better than watching (and laughing) at younger versions of themselves, making fun of their mothers' (my sister and I, of course) ill-advised wardrobe and hair choices along the way.

When we'd finally had enough tripping down memory lane, we moved on to more conversation. The continued consumption of alcohol made this discussion time a lot more interesting than our earlier version and lasted until our sentences were no longer making sense. We retreated to various beds and started up where we left off six hours later. Congregating on my niece's king-sized bed, we plotted the rest of the day. Now that we'd spent time eating, drinking and talking, there was only one thing left to do - shopping.

We headed for my niece's favorite bargain spot - The Sears Outlet Store. Before you laugh, I can tell you I left that store with five pajama tops and two bottoms and spent less than ten dollars and my daughter came out with a huge bag of work clothes for $26. Not laughing now, are you?

Later there was nothing to do but hug and kiss and promise each other that we would do this again soon. There we were, two generations of women who love hanging out with each other making a spectacle of themselves in the middle of the clearance aisle.

I wonder how soon Sears can restock those racks.