Shopping, or the Saga of the Suit

Do y'all know how much I hate shopping--especially for clothes? Clothes shopping is only really fun if it's easy to find things in your size and price range. I remember being jealous of a college roommate because she used to walk into a store, go straight to the clearance rack, and voila!--everything fit her, and the total bill was less than $30.

Jeff is actually an excellent clothes-picker-outer. He goes to a store without me, makes friends with the sales lady/ladies, and ten to twenty minutes later he's out the door. And the stuff he buys always fits me and looks good to boot! Maybe shopping for my clothes should become one of his household duties. Actually, another reason why he is so good at it is that he doesn't worry as much about price as I do. Last night he said to me, "Melanie, you are like a model, and only top designers make clothes for models' body shapes, so we just have to get used to paying more for your clothes. Think of it as a good investment." While he's saying this, I'm thinking, "These people are trying to rip me off."

Back to the suit...several years ago, the night before I was to interview for the assistant manager position at the library, I was freaking out because I didn't think I had anything to wear. I had bought a new sweater at the store earlier that day, and though I liked it, it wasn't quite right; however, there wasn't much else to do, so I ended up wearing it the next day. About twenty minutes before my interview, I was told I had a visitor. I left the reference desk, walked to the staff room, and there was Jeff holding a Dillard's bag. "I bought you a suit. Go try it on. Here are several of your blouses to see which one will work best with it." Can y'all guess my reaction? I was worried about how much it had cost, and was pretty sure it was VERY expensive since Jeff just kept saying, "Now don't you worry about that."

So I tried the suit on. It fit me perfectly. In the meantime, Jeff had, true to form, made friends with my co-workers and had pulled a few of them in for their opinion about which ensemble worked best. It was very sweet, yet somewhat embarrassing all at the same time.

Anyway, to make a long story short, when my boss told me I got the job she joked, "Now you be sure to tell Jeff that the suit was the tipping point." Everyone loves Jeff. How can you help NOT liking him?



Since I have an interview this afternoon, last night Jeff wanted to go shopping to find me the perfect/permanent blouse for the suit since I had gotten rid of the one I'd used before. I didn't want to go. It was already 8 p.m., and I thought we didn't have enough time. "No problem--a proverbial piece of cake for people like us," he replied. So history repeated itself. I browsed, disgusted, while he found the sales lady (I don't like to talk to sales ladies), and within minutes I was in the dressing room. Every time I came out to model I had to yell for Jeff, because, being the friendly/gregarious person that he is, he was around the corner chatting with the sales ladies. (Apparently to get the conversation rolling he said, "She's with me." The lady didn't understand his California-speak and queried, "She's angry?" "No, I mean she is with me. She is my wife.") Then we found a necklace, he paid for it while I dressed, and we were out the door before closing time.

Sorry this was such a long post, but I was just reflecting on what a great husband I have. I always tell him, "I feel sorry for all those other women in the world because there's only one of you. They have to settle for second best."