Oh Shame on Me!

Oh Shame on me for loosing track of whatever day of giving I'm on! Daily blogging definitely got harder for me the busier I got with all these great giving ideas! I had a great time yesterday shopping with my mom. I had to see what was wrong with my cell phone. Luckily, the battery wasn't making proper contact so it just needed to be reset and that was FREE! I was so relieved and happy to hear it that I asked my mom (who took me there) if she'd like to have a look round her favorite clothing shop next door, since they were having a sale. So we went in. Mom told me she'd lost some weight and dropped a pant size so she could now fit into her favorite tweed pants again, but she needed something to go with it. So after poking around the sales racks and not finding anything we asked the sales clerk for help. She picked out a lovely sweater we thought would be perfect. While mom was trying it on I picked out a couple of tops on sale I thought would look great on her, even though they were out of season. One of which she told me she loved and had her eye on since this past spring! The sales deal was buy one item full price get the next half off. Since the sweater was full price my mom suggested trying on a brown corduroy blazer. The clerk couldn't find one in her size that color so I went out and looked to see if I could find one her size to try on thinking even if it was in a different color we could order the size and color she wanted if she really liked it. Amazingly, mom liked the hot pink one I found even better than the brown! She told me she felt as a mature woman she often gets drab colored clothes especially during fall/winter, but the hot pink really made her feel vibrant and happy! Even with the correct size on she didn't think it fit her right and I insisted it was because she needed a new bra. She said she hated bra shopping by herself and so I insisted that after we pay for those things for her that we go bra shopping, which we did. I could understand after spending the first luckless hour then two, exactly why she hadn't gotten fitted properly for a bra in years! I did the best I could to help her. The sales lady that started us off went off to lunch without telling us, so when I finally did find a clerk I used all my clothing sales experience to get her to help us. After my cajoling she wound up being a fantastic asset to me in helping my mom find the perfect size, style and fit! The best part is that my mom went off to her doctor appointment just now looking terrific in her new bra, sweater and favorite tweed pants with a confident glow about her.

I offered to pay for pizza for the kids before trick or treating tonight, but my girlfriend insisted I've been so generous lately that it was her treat. She also felt bad that we haven't done anything together for a while. I was going to help her hand out candy, but she said her boyfriend is coming over and that she hadn't spent any time with him this week, so she suggested we go out and see a chick flick together another night instead. I appreciated the concession, even though I'm disappointed to be spending the evening home alone (no one ever comes to our house out in the countryside). Another girlfriend gave me a pair of football tickets to tomorrow's game, since she and her husband are going away for the weekend. So I invited my mom, since she invited me the last time. I realized yesterday evening after starting to read the book "The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World" that it is possible to view friends and family members as gifts in terms of the way that we enrich each others lives through expanding our circle of giving that begins with ourself, but eventually comes back to us in so many ways. I feel very grateful to be able to share my gifts with those who I surround myself with.