Monday, September 14, 2009

school days

wow -- almost a month since my last post. what have i been doing? i have been going to the beach, having birthday parties, spending time with my kids and getting ready for school. i CANNOT believe the summer is over and the kids are back in school. it just seems like yesterday they got out and we had 10 whole weeks stretching out in front of us. now the sun is going down earlier every day and the evenings are cool again and my hot cocoa doesn't make me sweat.

when the kids started school last week, i was thinking about my own school days. when i was a kid, my grandma was the one who always bought me my school clothes. her taste was always very different than mine, but since she was buying, i had to take what i got. there was one exception -- i always begged for saddle shoes. do you remember those? they were either white with a black "saddle" over the instep, or tan with brown. i loved those shoes! my grandma didn't understand why i always wanted that style, and sometimes tried to steer me to something different. in the end, however, she usually gave in and i would wear them home, constantly stealing glances at my feet.

now when i take my own children shopping for school clothes, i find that my taste is different than theirs, and i always try to keep to a budget, even when what they want is more than i want to pay. the one area where i almost always give in, though, is when we go to buy shoes. i am a sucker for letting them get what they want in that department. i always set a maximum price. other than that, as long as the shoes are good quality and fit well, i pretty much let them get what they want. later, when they wear them for the first time, i smile as i watch them glance at their feet when they think no one is looking.

thanks, grandma.