Ringing Up a Sale

(Day 83 of 112)

The MIL is a compulsive shopper. In this she is able assisted by the FIL who, if possible, is fonder of shopping than her. Of course, I would have had no problem if they restricted the shopping to themselves. I would have gladly carried all the bags and waited outside the trial rooms. Unfortunately, they do not. Instead they are very generous with their time, money and love and it leaves a very guilty and embarrassed me, standing in the middle of the shop, trying to dissuade Ma from buying the same tee shirt in three different colours! And to make it worse, I’m a need based shopper and go into any shop with a list of things to buy. So this kind of impulsive (compulsive) buying is way out of my neurotic zone of comfort.

And today my list making soul was tried and tested to its limit. For not only did we go on a spontaneous shopping trip, we did it at the jewellery store. You see, the MIL just can’t resist a Sale sign on the front door of a shop. And her favourite jewellery store had one of those hanging up.

So there we were, with the MIL all excited and happy, and me all nervous and uneasy. I mean who just goes into a jewellery store to randomly buy something? Ok I know several people who do that…but no one who qualifies as…well…normal?

Anyhoo. After half an hour of “No Ma, I don’t want anything” and “Ma I think the Fellow will want to have an opinion here”, we finally settled on a diamond ring. And then, sensing that I was getting increasingly uncomfortable about our impulsive purchase, Ma whispered to me “It’s an early birthday gift for you”.

The MIL sure knows how to make me feel all comfortable I tell you. Brilliant!