Ok….I have to admit, my wife didn’t do too bad when I let her submit a guest blog, but I never agreed to a ‘two-parter’! I feel tricked, betrayed, duped…..and a little bit spoiled, as now I get to take another week off from writing duties. So once again, here’s my truly beloved with, what I hope, is the conclusion of her long-winded Horizon Goodwill experience.
Wow…thanks John for all your positive reinforcement. Anyway, we left off with myself, my college-aged son Corey and my young daughter Kaitlyn taking clothes to donate at our local Goodwill store. We also found my husband’s stash of “skinny pants” that, for some reason, he thinks he’s going to miraculously fit into someday.
The deal I made with Kaitlyn was, in order to get new Back To School clothes she would have to make room in her closet, hence the trip to Goodwill. She had a hard-earned total of $54.00 in her pocket that she couldn’t wait to spend on new clothes at the mall. I didn’t know how I was going to explain to her that maybe, just maybe she would have enough for two, three outfits tops.
As I pulled all sorts of clothing with tags from Justice, Children’s Place and The Gap from my re-useable shopping bag and put them in the donation bin at the front of the store, I noticed I was alone. Corey was nowhere in site, but out of the corner of my eye I could see Kaitlyn had gravitated towards a display of pre-teen girls clothing. The gleam of wonderment in my young daughter’s eyes caught my attention.
I watched as she gently grabbed a denim skirt, then a printed pink blouse. She held both items up together, apparently considering whether they matched. Taking the newly created outfit and placing them across the rack, she slowly turned finding a really trendy scarf and placed it across the blouse. Quietly, I approached with a cart. “Hey, Kaitlyn. Looks like you found some pretty cool stuff.” I continued to watch, amazed, as she buzzed around selecting other tops, slacks and shoes, creating an entire wardrobe.
After several trips to the dressing room and a great fashion show of outfits, she grinned without taking her eyes from her treasures. “Mommy, can I borrow your cell phone? I want to add up how much all of this would cost.”
Now it was my turn to smile. I handed her my phone and proudly watched as she tallied each article of clothing and gently placed it in the cart. The look on her face was so precious as she announced “All 15 of them for only $39? Can I buy them? I have enough! Please!”
How could I argue with that? “Not only can you buy all of those outfits, you just might have enough to treat me and your brother to lunch, too!”
“That’s a deal! Mixing and matching all of these clothes will give me a new outfit each day for at least a month! Cool…..Why doesn’t everybody know about this place?”
We made our way towards the register as I looked around the store for Corey. I asked Kaitlyn, “Have you seen your brother?” but she was way too busy too respond, still marveling at her new wardrobe. I visually scanned the perimeter of the store until I saw Corey feverishly signaling me near the Housewares Department. He’s always so composed…I wonder what has him so excited?
Ahh, Missy, you’ve done it again! You’re really loving this whole blog writing thing, aren’t you? You mean to keep your readers waiting until next week to see what Corey found at our local Horizon Goodwill store? Ok….I’ll give you one more entry to tell your story. You know, I could get used to all this free time….