Shopping With Teenage Girls is A Tragic-Comic Drama

Ah, the wicked delight I experienced every time my oldest three daughters took their younger sisters shopping for a dress for a special occasion like a grade eight or twelve graduation. grade eight or twelve graduation. After a particular stressful shopping trip, they stumble through the door, complaining about their hard to please sibling. Typically,they roll their  eyes and sputter,
 " Do you want to know what kind of dress she wanted me to buy?!"
It was still a wonderful experience for a young adult to shop with a younger sister and in reponse  to their tirade I'd laugh,
"Oh, we understand what you just went through, sweetie. It is payback time! Now you know what your dad and I went through."

I remember scores of tragic-comic dramas as we shopped with our daughters.  One example is particularly telling. Mara was just thirteen and about to graduate from our country elementary school to high school. Since I was still surrounded by little people and laundry, Dad volunteered, quite innocently, for the shopping expedition into the city.
Four hours later, Mara barged through the kitchen door, glared at me and announced very dramatically,
"I am NEVER shopping with HIM again!"
She stomped through the kitchen and slammed the solid wood door to the hall behind her with a dramatic flourish.

A few minutes later, her father slipped through the front  door, shoulders slumped and silently communicated his exhaustion and defeat.
 "So", I queried tentatively, "How did it go?"
 Michael sighed and began to describe one scene in a dress shop. He had picked out a few pretty dresses which he felt were age appropriate. Holding up a flowered print dress with a high, round collar, he called out to his daughter,
"Mara, this one is very pretty."
Mara responded by rolling her eyes dramatically,
"Daaad...that's way too childish."
The sailor style dress that Michael thought was perfect was similarly dismissed.
Then, Mara pulled out a black, spaghetti strapped, clingy, black dress and squealed,
 "Dad, this is exactly what I am looking for!"
  Poor dad sighed but allowed her to try the dress on.
Mara emerged from the dressing room complaining,
"It makes me look FAT."
 Right then and there, my poor husband's only desire was to sink into a deep hole because the  store attendant and her customer both weighed  about 300lbs. and 350lbs. each.
 Both women chimed in and exclaimed to 115lb. Mara,
"Oh no dear, I don't think you look fat at all!"

Somehow,everything always seemed to worked out.   On this occasion, it was Melissa, Mara's older sister , to the rescue. She borrowed a cream coloured dress from a friend, embossed with swirls and a Chinese styled collar that was decent but not childish. Mara was delighted and her dad was relieved.

It is still a wonderful experience for a young adult to shop with a younger sister. Typically my older daughters returned home, rolled their  eyes and sputter,
"Do you want to know what kind of dress she wanted me to buy?!"

Oh, we know, sweetie,we know.