8-16-13 RMB Style

8-16-13  RMB Style

Dear Rita Mae Brown,

Most Friday nights my routine is to leave work, while it is still light out and walk in the park until light fades. I listen to music and my imagination roams, sketching out my books or I talk to friends, some over a cell phone, some via thought. I often say “hey” to you and welcome any spirits interested in visiting.

I write these letters, in part to relay some of my cosmic beliefs and notions, yet even as I write this, I cringe a bit. I guess I am pretty out there. However, when I visit with someone in this way and can later pick up a conversation with them and fall in sync with what they shared via thought, now in spoken words, I believe our conversations are real…both those in thought as well as those spoken.

Afterwards I head home to pick up the sister and take her to a local department store to walk. It’s been quite hot and she is just getting started on her walking routine, so a few laps around a cool store is her walk for the day. By the time I make it home it is edging towards nine. The sister throws a dinner together for me and we watch a show together. The end. That’s what normally transpires on Friday nights.

Tonight, I picked up the middle boy and took him to the store. He has been wearing an odd mix of clothing to school recently. “I want you to pick out a couple pairs of pants. What style do you like? If you really like what you’ve been wearing, that’s okay. But in case you’re just grabbing what’s handy or you don’t have pants you like, I want you to have some more choices.”

He looked at me with those big, sweet eyes, “Okay.” He’s an agreeable nine year old.

Once there, I had to prompt him. “Do you like jeans? Do you want dress pants? What kind of pockets do you like? Would you rather have shorts?”

After circling the racks and trying some on, he divulged the key to his odd choices. “I like snaps.” He prefers pants that snapped over ones that buttoned, willing to wear something old and tattered or short, over something new that fit better...if it the pants had a snap.

We found him two pairs of jeans…that snapped AND fit. He also wanted a Bumble Bee t-shirt that was too big for him. He said we should get it because it was the only one and if he waited until he grew, it would not be there anymore. Bumble Bee, if you haven’t heard, is the coolest of the Transformers.

As I explained to him that it was too big and we could try to find another Bumble Bee shirt I saw the sadness in his eyes. He didn’t throw a fit or whine or complain or plead…he just looked incredibly sad as we left the shirt on the rack and walked away.

We searched the store for other Bumble Bee shirts, but there was none to be found. We were there for him to find his style. It didn’t matter if it fit or not, he wanted it and that was why we were there, for him to have the latitude to state his preference. Our mission was for pants…but we got the shirt too.

We proceeded back to his home, where he showed off his shirt and we picked up the other two boys for a sleepover at my place. It’s late now, they have settled down in the living room (yawn).

Cheers for finding our style, g’night,

Loraine