I try not to post here during the day, but hey, it's lunchtime, and my mom sent me a nice email the other day after I posted about how "fun" I am to shop with.

Anyway, my mom (who reads my blog because she loves me, obviously) told me that not only does she shop that way (which I only vaguely remember, since she was very wise and started giving me a clothes allowance when I was about twelve, so I could make my own sartorial mistakes), but her mother, Chico, also shopped that way. (Chico, sadly, died when I was four or five, so I don't remember her.)

You would have loved to seen Chico at bazaars — Bangkok variety. [My grandparents were stationed in Thailand and Burma in the 1950s.] Lots of sign language and laughter. Stateside she'd do the whole shop and then she'd take something to a salesperson and say that she would like something just like what she was holding except in blue and with a long skirt — did they have something — maybe in the back – like that? They'd give her a look and say yeah — you're holding it … but occasionally it would work! And it would be so funny…

So there you have it. It's genetic. (Code for "not my fault.")

QWP–"Quoted with permission"–although probably getting permission to quote a private email from YOUR OWN MOTHER is pretty much a given!