going to the mall

I love going to the mall. It is on of the most interesting things that I do.

A simple pleasure we usually do three or four times a week. It gives me an idea of people. And I get a front row seat at a culture parade.

There are things I hate about the mall, of course. Bath and Body Works is chief among them. There is nothing worse than being dragged through that store. Unless, it would be Yankee Candle, maybe.

But I love just walking and looking and sitting and looking.

One thing I like looking at is the fashions. Look at the clothes and you get a great picture of how people think.

When fashions come out, they are generally perceived as dumb. And they are. But in a couple of years, you find variations of those same things in the better stores (Dillard’s, etc), and in three in WalMart and Target.

It is sad to think that these fashions are driven by men who do not like women and are generally homosexual. I think sometimes that they try their best to make women look dumb. And they generally succeed if they buy that junk I saw at Dillard’s last night.

But another thing I love looking at is families, especially those who come to the mall with their children.

I have always loved to see who married whom, and I sit and wonder why.

The best example of this that I ever saw was in the Independence Mall in Kansas City, MO. A big burly longhaired, bearded guy in biker leathers was with a professional looking woman wearing an obviously expensive suit and hairdo. They had with them the fluffiest baby I have ever in my life seen: an explosion of ruffles.

What made her marry him? Good girl marrying bad boy? Well, it showed him for sure, dude. They had a very fluffy baby.

I also love to watch couples going into the jewelry store to get “THE RING”. The girl always looks so happy and nervous, the guy looks kind of poleaxed, what did I do here? But he also looks proud. He is buying his girl a diamond ring that she will, hopefully, wear the rest of her life.

I still remember buying Ella her ring. It was a pretty good one, too. A 1/3 carat solitaire from Zales in Almeda Mall in Houston, TX. We also bought our wedding rings that day. I was a GI going to Germany in a short time and had very little income. I still wonder why they gave me credit.

I also lost my ring within 6 months of coming back to the states. It is an unforgettable experience coming home from work and telling your wife that you lost your ring. It was too big so I took it off to wash my hands and it was gone the next day. She made me buy a $2 from Woolworth’s to hold me until we could afford a better one. It turned in 2 days, but at least I was shackled, she figured.

That scene is played out almost every time we go to the mall and look. The chairs we sit in are at a major junction, and as most malls do, there are four jewelry stores, one at each corner.

Again, a simple pleasure, but I like it.