I met friends for lunch yesterday. We sat on the patio overlooking the beautiful backdrop of the Rocky Mountains. Three friends. We met through Sisters on the Fly. Laughing for a couple of hours over Chinese food was just what I needed after the episode of heat exhaustion on Friday. I felt alive again. After lunch, I had an item to return so I walked across the street to the mall. I used to LOVE shopping. If shopping was an Olympic sport, I would have been on the podium. I got my degree in shopping. Downsizing and purging my life of 95% of my possessions has ruined the shopping experience for me. I pick up an item, think about where I’ll put it and what I’ll have to get rid of in order for it to fit, and then check the price tag. The first thing that goes through my mind is how many nights at a cool campground can that money give me and 99.9% of the time, that beautiful item goes right back on the shelf. This is distressing because my Olympian spirit is being trampled. So yesterday I decided to try a different tactic and shop for entertainment.

I wandered through the mall and watched the other shoppers. Families out in droves for back to school bargains, shopping for those coveted outfits that will boost little Janie or Johnny’s chances of not being ostracized in the hallways. Overly stimulated children standing at their mother’s elbow, crying. Couples walking hand in hand. Daddies holding mommies’ bags while they elbowed their way through the sale racks. It was shopper’s hell. I figured I’d better escape the families so I headed for the lingerie department. Now, there are two things I do not compromise on. Skin care products and lingerie. I know they cost a boat load of money, but I only want fine quality when it comes to what I hold closest to my skin. It makes me feel beautiful and that in itself is priceless. I love the lingerie department. It’s like going into the library only instead of books, you get a luscious tactile experience that is only heightened by the hushed reverence of the shoppers and the soft music in the background. It’s almost a religious experience.

It was in the nightie aisle that I found Henry and Mim. Henry was ancient, sitting in a wheelchair with his wife’s purse perched precariously on his woefully thin thighs. Henry was watching Mim as she carefully looked at each little nightgown with something akin to awe. She felt the fabric between her fingers. She carefully checked the label for laundering instructions, peering over the wire rimmed glasses perched on her nose. When she found just the perfect one, she tottered over to Henry and said, “What do you think of THIS one, darling?” And Henry…sweet, wise Henry, veteran of a lifetime of these Saturday excursions, replied, “Oh, Mim…that one brings out the blue in your eyes!” Mim beamed happily as she looked from her new nighty to the love of her life with a gentleness that melted my heart into a little puddle on the floor, right there in Macy’s. That. That is what I’m searching for.

❤️

“May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.”

Proverbs 5:18

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