Zen and the Art of Motherhood

As the rest of the world was stuffing their faces and watching some hopefully funny new commercials during Super Bowl 2010, I was at the local mall with my oldest.  By the way, if you ever need to go shopping, that's the time to do it.  We parked right out front and practically had the whole place to ourselves.

Anyway...halfway through the mall, my daughter started a chant .

"Please can we go into Forever XXI?  Please, please, pleeeaaase?"

In a moment of weakness I acquiesced and in we went.  Within a few minutes I had an eerie feeling come over me. Why, it was like I had died and gone to that great '80s haven in the sky.  I seriously thought Madonna or Flock of Seagulls or Duran Duran were going to jump out from behind a wall and start reenacting some vintage MTV video.

Since THAT didn't happen, I settled on the fact that I was having one of the most amazing deja vu experiences ever!  Rack by rack, I walked by things swear I wore when I was young.  I even have pictures to prove it.

As far as the eye could see, there were cropped jeans, cropped jackets and leggings galore.  There were long sweaters with banded bottoms and neon print jackets too.  The only things missing were the shoulder pads.  You remember the ones, don't you?  They made us all look like very pretty, very feminine linebackers.  Oh, those were the days.

Now I realize some of you are youngsters.  At this point in my little tale you're probably uttering a not-so-quiet, "Heh?  What the hell is this lady talking about?"

But for all you old farts like me, this was a bittersweet walk down memory lane.  Sweet because it brought back so many memories, and bitter because I realize how long ago it was that I was young and was decked out in stuff that could have come from Forever XXI.

Chuckling and Crying (all at the same time),