Missing Her

I miss my daughter. I haven't seen her since Christmas, which was a little over 2 months ago. It feels more like 2 years. She has just been so busy lately, but she is going to go to Puerto Rico with us next month, so that is something I really am looking forward to. Its rare to get all of us together in one place anymore. I know thats the natural progression as kids grow up, and people get busy with their jobs and their lives. And while all of that sucks on some level, it also means that my kids are out there busy being productive members of society, and for that I am both proud and grateful.

When Erica was in high school we used to go out on Saturday mornings. Not every weekend, but a lot. Sometimes we did normal shopping at the mall, but other times we did this kind of thrift store treasure hunt, and that was a whole lot of fun. You can't go do that with an actual "need" for anything specific. But if you have the time to browse and really look through the stuff you can sometimes find some cool things (like an Anne Klein skirt new with TAGS for 8 dollars). You can't beat that. But no matter where we shopped, it always included lunch out, usually at this chinese buffet that we really like. We still go there whenever she comes home and we have a chance to go shopping. Our time is too short to go on those leisurely junk shop hunts anymore, and we usually do more of the "normal" shopping when we get the chance to go out. But lunch? That is always part of the deal.

Some weekends I did the shopping thing with Stephen...but it was different. He didn't love shopping unless it was at Barnes and Noble or Office Depot. For some reason he could (and still can) browse through books and office supplies like Erica and I do with shoes. Or purses. We would maybe go to the mall a couple of times a year when he absolutely needed clothes, but he would go in, pick out multiples of something he liked and be done with it. Our shopping always included lunch, though. His favorite place was this Mexican restaurant that used to be really good, but the last few times we went had gone downhill quite a bit. We have given up on that place, but a couple of new Mexican places have since opened, and those are really yummy. But the point is that although shopping with my son was a completely different experience than shopping with my daughter, it was still fun. A time to chat and relax and just enjoy the company.

Those were the "good old days". Or I like to remember them like that anyway.
I'm pretty sure that it wasn't all smiles and laughing and shopping with 2 teenagers in the house, but its funny how the bad stuff fades while the fun things become the memories. I guess it really is a good thing....or we might never ever all get together in one place again. Erica said something a couple of years ago that actually rang true. She said that family get-togethers are always much more fun in theory than in reality. HAHAHA....I know. Its a fact. But I still hope we all have a grand ol' time in Puerto Rico together.