My granddaughter Lorelei is 13!!! How did that happen??? Spent the day with her and her sister Karleigh last w/e. Had a great day! I picked them up and we went shopping at Rue 21 (Lorelei's favorite store!) I had a limit on how much I was going to let her spend, and Paige and William contributed too. I told her to pick a lot of stuff to try on because typically a bunch of it won't fit, so she did. She looked SO CUTE in SO MUCH STUFF!!!! And was just on cloud 9! She said she'd never shopped this way before, and was having so much fun! (This is the granddaughter who's Mom Rachel is an addict...Rachel's husband committed suicide 1 1/2 years ago, he was an addict/alcoholic too... her home life is pretty dysfunctional so I try and take her and her sister Karleigh often, give them some normalcy.) She said Cece (her other Grandma) would sometimes take them out school clothes shopping, but it was to Target usually and she'd buy them a bunch of T shirts that fit in different colors, and maybe a pair or two of jeans, which she was grateful for, but she'd just never actually gone to a place like Rue 21 and tried on bunches of stuff that SHE picked out. I was surprised too that she asked my opinion about what looked good on her, what to wear with what. When I questioned her about that, she said that I knew how to put stuff together, that I always looked coordinated. Huh! I'm surprised that she'd even notice! Anyway, when we got to the register it tallied up to a lot more than I had planned to spend. Lorelei's eyes got as big as saucers, and she asked if she should put a bunch of it back. I just didn't have the heart to tell her she couldn't have the stuff, so I said no problem and happy birthday! While he was ringing it up, the young dude started chatting with me, commented on my tattoos and we had a great convo about that, he showed me his I showed him mine kind of thing And then when we got to the total for the clothes and he could see that it was a surprise to me, he said "Y'know what? I think I screwed up some of the discounts, some of the BOGOs maybe...let me just do this.....there we go!" And BAM!!! He added a 50% discount for the entire order, and it ended up being almost exactly the amount I had intended to spend! Then we went to Five Below, because I promised Karleigh that she could buy a couple things there ( I mean, I can't take one shopping without also letting the other do a bit too, now can I? ) and I also wanted to pick something up for Ella (Rachel's and Jon's bio kid) and Jon-Paul, one of her step kids, who were at the apartment when I picked up the girls....just didn't want them to feel left out, y'know? So we did that for a bit. And then we drove to another part of town to meet up with the Uncles for a late lunch, and more shopping. Had a fun lunch with Cameron and Devin, and then went to H and M...that was Cam's birthday present to Lorelei, who had regaled the boys with her Rue 21 shopping adventures, and how much fun and what she got and how cool it was! I asked him privately how much he wanted to spend so I could sort of direct Lorelei a bit, and he said Mom it doesn't matter. Just let her have fun. He could certainly afford it She ended up with several more outfits, more excitement, more happiness....it was just lovely to see her so very happy and upbeat! Made me feel really good. Beginning our adventure! Lunch with the Uncles.
Ronni the children are so lucky to have you in their lives. I don't mean for the money you spend on them but the love you give and get in return. It shines through in all your posts. A big thumbs up to the assistant in Rue 21 for allowing you that 50% discount. Lorelei must have thought she'd died and gone to heaven being allowed to get all those new outfits. She'll remember her 13th birthday as an extra special day that's for sure.
