Dress For Success

Our 23-year-old son came home from the Mainland for a visit last week. It was a wonderful time for our family as we miss him tremendously. He could only come home for a week since he had to get back to summer classes he’s taking in preparation for graduate school. So we made the best of it, spending as much time as possible with our first born.

On one of the days he decided to take his 15-year-old sister for an excursion visiting his old haunts and favorite eating places. The plan was for them to meet their mother at Macy’s in the late afternoon, and I would also join them to have dinner after I finished work. When I reached Macy’s, our daughter said their mother was trying on a dress and for me to meet them at the dressing room.

Sure enough, my son and daughter were right outside of the ladies dressing room. They were comfortably sitting in front of a massive mirror right next to the entry of the fitting-room corridor. I asked where their mom was, and they said she was inside trying on a dress. While we waited, I decided to have some fun with the kids.

I walked over to a nearby clearance-sale rack and pulled out the loudest and gaudiest dress I could find. I draped it over the front of me and like a mini-fashion show, paraded in front of them as though I was modeling haute couture. They were laughing really hard and the more they laughed, the more I hammed it up.

Just then a woman wearing the exact same dress I was mocking, came walking out of the dressing rooms. I guess she was trying it on and came out for a look in the large mirror. She stopped in her tracks and looked at me holding the same dress. My kids and I immediately fell silent, and the next thing I know my two children got up and left, pretending not to know who I was.

So there I was holding this dress over me with the woman wearing the same dress glaring at me. That’s when my wife walked out of the dressing room. I looked at her and said, “Now you know why I hate to go clothes shopping.”