The Mall

I was watching a bit of the news this morning and on comes a commercial for Macy's Labor Day Sale.  Suddenly I am seized by a longing to shop at a mall.  I have not shopped at a mall for...years.  Seriously.  And this is quite something, because it is not an exaggeration to say that when I was a singleton I went to the mall at least once a week for some serious shopping.  I mean, I bought things and everything.


I know people will tell you avoiding malls is not unusual.  It's just a Kohl's, TJMaxx, Target kind of world now.  I don't avoid malls because I don't like them.  I avoid them because things cost more there.  And I have children.  Malls are a terrible place for children.  On the one hand, they are very non-child focused.  All of those racks of clothes at the perfect height to crawl under and through make it extremely difficult to find children who have discovered them.  The whole fine china department right in the middle of everything always tempts them to touch things.  So many clothes for moms to look at and try on with nothing but the occasional full length mirror to distract a child. And then, in other ways, they are TOO child friendly.  All of those sculpted foam play areas where kids can climb on germ-infested giant-sized snack foods.  All of those random islands of candy machines in the middle of walkways.  (Which I unashamedly told my children were not really for sale, but merely a creative display to look at.)  And worst of all, those areas of coin-operated "rides" where you can pay seventy-five cents to spend one minute being jerkily rocked in a plastic bulldozer. 

Yes, I have very good reasons for no longer shopping at malls - but today I wanted to.  If you go to the mall today, look for me in Macy's.  Maybe I'll leave the littles at home with Tyler (on his birthday!  What a treat for him!) and head to the mall.  You know, just for old time's sake.  I wouldn't have to actually buy anything, right?...