I didn't let that get me down though, we got dressed up and we headed out in Sus's car to run the errands we needed to run, and to pick up a few thing s that the kids were gonna need for school. Taking my son clothes shopping is something that is about as much funs as a pelvic exam. We bicker, argue over every decision, and debate every single choice until I am ready to run screaming into the parking lot.I long for the days when he was a cute little ginger haired scamp with ringlet curls and big blue eyes, that were set off so nicely by the darling sweater vests and dockers I dressed him in. I miss being able to dress him up the way I like, I see all sorts of cool fashion ideas that would really set off his best features, but he just scoffs, called them lame or worse and stomps away as if I suggested he wear a dress!Right off the bat he found a display of t-shirts he liked, so he started pawing through them as if he were the one funding the expedition. He emerged with of all things,a Batman shirt, and proclaimed it his hearts desire,he tossed me a t-shirt that was a retro "The Who" concert shirt and said,'Look, a geezer reminder" and then he took off looking at super skinny jeans in bright orange. I ended up hanging onto the Who shirt because it was cool but we argued over the super skinny jeans. I am soo tired of seeing that much of his skinny white ass, even clad in boxers with cartoon characters on them, I am just done and done. We finally compromised on a pair of jeans that weren't quite as tight, and in the normal dark blue, and then he decided he needed a brown leather belt that cost and arm and a leg, so we added that to the stack. As we were prowling through the store, oooing and ahhhing over stuff we couldn't afford, I noticed a woman looking at me, and I knew she was checking me out, but I didn't say anything to my son, I just smiled and kept on shopping, but he is a little more astute about things than I give him credit for because he saw her and as we headed into the mens underwear section, he whispered,"Mom, that chick is totally eyeballing you to death, its freaking me out." I laughed and said yeah, I know...too bad shes not a guy, shes kinda cute. Leaving him speechless for a few minutes was kinda the highpoint of my day.
We went into the underwear section because my son has suddenly decided at age 14, that he no longer wants to wear boxers. He has been a boxers guy since he was 2 years old and threw a walleyed fit when I tried to put him in tighty whities. This all the sudden shift to a different style has me worried, because not only does he want to go to a different style, he wants to go to Calvin Klines,(the really expensive stuff!), that only he and his long suffering laundry doer should be seeing. I started asking him why the sudden shift in desire from boxers with cartoons and such on them, that I can steal and wear as shorts when its hot, to super short boxer briefs that cost over $25 a pair! Who the hell is he trying to impress?He wanted them in colors as well, like red and black! We had quite a conversation about the risks of wearing the wrong underwear and how giggle worthy bikini briefs are deal killers for me, as well as anything silk,(I just start laughing,cant help it, dont know why), and that saggy old tighty whities are also just gross, but boxers are reliable and stable and whimsical and fun, where the ones he wanted just screamed..."Im gonna be doing something that will make my moms hair turn grey", but when I tried to push the topic further, he stuck his fingers in his ears and scurried away towards the shoes. We never did find any football cleats yesterday, and he is actually waffling about playing football now, so I dont know if hes going to follow through and play or not, he seems to be more interested in track and field than football some days, and he is a hell of a runner, even if he does run really weird! The boy keeps his shoulders still, and he doesn't really pump his arms! I have no idea how he was setting track records for the 44o at his school in Texas, but he is shockingly fast and I hate to tell him to change his style, it just looks really funny.
We had a pretty good day yesterday. After we got done shopping, we headed back towards the apartment, listening to the radio and singing along to whatever song came along that we both liked and could agree upon, and when,"Millionaire" came on, we were both belting it out and enjoying ourselves, laughing and just for once, feeling like we enjoyed being together, and as we approached the turnoff to the apartments, he said, "Mom, keep going, lets just drive for a bit and keep doing this, we all need it.", So I drove on down to Powell and decided to see if we could find Powells books.
The drive on Powell was eye-opening! I found out I live in the really white-bread, lame, part of Portland. I wanted to be in the vibrant, culturally mixed, alive, part of the city, but due to the need for good schools and to be near my friend, I decided on Gresham, and its very generic and very Caucasian, Where we drove through yesterday was where I would love to be. I found noodle shops, music stores, Boho little weird bookstores and the people hanging out on the streets looked like people that I would find inspiring for my writing or art. Chance looked around like his eyes could not take things in fast enough.,"Mom! I swear I just saw Harold and Kumar!" I laughed at him but I had to agree as we cruised through some of the more interesting sections.We never found Powells, and due to a missed turn, we ended up in Beverton, but I flipped a uey and we made it back to downtown Portland just as they were filming some new story, and though I didn't recognize any street names, we managed to find the right street to get us back to the bridge, back across into our side of the the city and into Mt Tabor, and Yamhill area. Those are very cool neighborhoods, and I actually ended up in the driveway of one of the biggest houses I have seen since I left Texas,(better street signs would really be nice), but I knew the direction I needed to be headed in so I just kept pointing us that direction, and we eventually found Division again and we made it back to Gresham in plenty of time to unload the stuff before I had to go pick up Sus from work. Chance said he was proud of me," Mom, you never freaked out once, memaw or Susan would have been spazzing and Aunt Trina would have been pissed off and yelling, you were just laughing and looking around,thats really cool." I told him I didn't see the point of freaking out, it was kinda cool to see new places and stuff, we weren't in a war zone, it was adventure and I love adventure.Our biggest issue of the day was our disagreements over music. The boy dissed AC/DC ! He tried to turn down 'Hells Bells" and I almost put him out of the car, and then he whined and moaned over Led Zepplin and The Who as well as Van Halen. We argued over who was the best guitarist ever and he what compromises good music. But he did admit that its nice to have a mom that rocks out vs a mom that doesn't like rock at all, though he does find it a bit disconcerting that I like black metal and am just as likely to have that blasting through my iPod as I am any "Indie weirdness" as he refers to it.
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