1 Mother 2 Another

During Christmas break, the family took a
trip to the GapKids outlet to get a few necessities. Big mistake,
of course, because we were still in “heck, it’s
Christmas, let’s spoil ‘em!” mode, and what I had
thought would be a ten dollar visit for socks ended up costing us
almost eighty bucks. The girls found a whole line of spring rain
gear, put on the rain jacket and rubber boots, and danced around
the store twirling their matching umbrellas. They looked so darn
cute in the yellow-with-green outfits, like big sunny daisies, that
we put up only a token fight. I reasoned weakly that they’d
need SOME sort of rain gear here, so it might as well be matching.
With bonnets. And umbrellas.

Let me tell you, we have already gotten
our money’s worth out of those ensembles, and not not because
of the inordinate amount of rain that’s hit us. I mean,
we’ve had a few rain days, but we’re not yet into
tornado season. No, these outfits have earned their cost several
times over because MY GIRLS ARE SO DAMN CUTE IN THOSE OUTFITS and
make me happy every time they wear them, pure and simple.


When it rains on a school day, both girls insist on the gear just
for drop-off and pick-up, and every teacher in that school melts
every time my little buttercups come walking up to the door,
umbrellas held charmingly over their heads. Yesterday was one such
day, and one of the teachers said to me, “I look forward to
the rain just so I can see those cute outfits!”


After dropping sissy off at school, Cora and I hit the grocery
store, splashing through the cold and miserable rain to get inside.
When Cora walked through those automatic doors, every single
checkout clerk looked at her and melted into a little puddle.
I’m not kidding. As Cora walked past the express lane, the
lady said, “Well aren’t you just a little ray of
sunshine!” Cora dimpled her a smile and said sweetly,
“Thank you!” Which of course just made her melt all
over again.


The rain boots haven’t gotten as much use, since it’s
not practical to use rain boots just for darting in and out of the
school or mall. But we’ve had a day or two of rain when the
girls could put on the full ensemble and head out to splash in
puddles, and it’s been heaven on earth for them. They make me
actually look forward to the rainy season.


I’ve purposefully bought everything a bit larger so
we’d have them around at least through the fall; at the
snail’s pace that Maddie’s feet grow, she’ll
probably wear them over a year. Perhaps the girls will tire of the
outfits by then, and be ready for something else.


But I know I won’t.