Home for the Weekend

Emily came home this past weekend for her first visit since she headed off to UCSB last month. She called -- okay, she texted -- at the beginning of the week that she wanted to come home. I immediately grew anxious: was she having trouble with her roommate? were classes too hard? was she homesick? The answer I received was, "No, I just want some good food." After four weeks of dorm food, about which she did not complain but merely described as repetitive, she was ready for some home cooked meals. At least, that was what I thought. She took the train down Friday afternoon and my husband picked her up at the train station. We had take-out Chinese that night. For lunch on Saturday, she made herself one of her world-famous sandwiches, complete with tapenade and Lays potato chips. We stopped at In 'n Out that afternoon for a chocolate shake and we went out for Italian food for dinner. So much for home cooking.

The kids and I took a trip to the Glendale Galleria on Saturday afternoon as Emily needed a cardigan sweater and Joey needed an outfit for homecoming. We went to Macy's where Joey bought the first sport coat he was shown and the only pants that he tried on. He went to a tie table and quickly chose a bold stripe purple tie. Jack found a coordinating violet dress shirt, leaving just a pair of dress shoes to complete the ensemble. I was tempted to let him wear his black tennis shoes as I knew the chances were slim that he would ever have an occasion to wear a pair of dress shoes again before his feet grew. However, we bit the bullet and found a relatively inexpensive pair of size 12's for him. I will save them for Jack and then can always pass them on to someone. It took us about 30 minutes to select his entire outfit, get Emily's approval and complete the purchase.

We then headed upstairs to the women's apparel areas to look for a sweater for Emily. She had previously scanned the Junior department with no success but I felt sure that I could find something for her quickly and easily. We scoured through the entire second floor, but everything was dismissed -- too short, too long, too dark, too light, too heavy, too skimpy, too fancy, too plain. Joey's eyes were glazed over and starting to roll back in his head. Jack, a secret shopping enthusiast, found a great sweater that Emily really liked. It was more expensive than I had prepared myself to spend but I quickly decided we would go for it. Alas, no pockets. Our search continued.

As we entered the next store, "White House, Black Market", Joey, in his inimitable monotone, commented, "I can't help but notice a complete absence of color in this store." Emily and I just looked at each other and sighed. We kept moving. We struck out at the next two stores and I knew I was running out of time. I broke my own rule and entered "Abercrombie and Fitch", a store I loathe, thinking it would be good for something fast albeit expensive. We were quickly driven out by the overpriced poorly constructed merchandise, driving techno beat and pheromone saturated fragrance that clung to our nostrils. Realizing that Joey's shopping induced coma was bordering on irreversible, I resolved to find something in the next store. By the grace of God, Emily found something that would work, not perfect, but acceptable. It took twice as long to find one basic sweater for her as it did to put together an entire outfit for Joey, a fact he did not fail to notice.

The weekend came to a rapid close. Aside from our excursion to the mall, and a quick visit with some good friends, we did very little. The truth is that we mostly just spent time with one another, watching football, baseball and some "quality" reality programming. But we had a great time and I think we all reconnected as a fivesome. I loved every minute of it. I can't wait for Thanksgiving!