A cup of fun

It's about that time again...time for school to start.
So I took Hillary and two of her friends into the city to coordinate "first day outfits". We were chauffeured by Mr. Silent Reflective Sunglasses. (He told me later "Do you know that in the span of 11 miles they said the word "like" 40 times? I counted." What can I say, he's a math teacher.) Anyway...we ate, we laughed, we shopped.
At the first stop, my husband lost himself in Best Buy while we girls went into Gordmans. I followed them around, offering to hold their selections while they picked outrageous things off the clearance racks for each other to try on. They all came out of their respective dressing rooms complimenting each other on how "awesome" the other looked, while at the same time, downplaying the "awesomeness" of their own ensemble. But this was our first store, and no self-respecting girl spends her money at the first store. So it was on to the mall.
By this time, they didn't really need me anymore. Hence the reason The Man was allowed to come...to keep me company while the girls did their own thing. He and I sat in the food court, munched on a pretzel, and talked about everything from our bible study the night before to the crazy outfit the girl across the way had on.
Finally, my phone rang. "Mom, I think we're ready for you...you know...that one thing..."
That "thing" was bra shopping. One of the girls is being raised by a single dad. He's a great guy and does his best, but she was outgrowing her "innerwear" and I don't think either of them felt comfortable doing anything about it. So I volunteered. It was the unspoken mission of this shopping trip.
I sent my husband to the huge, two-story sporting goods store and met the girls at Victoria's Secret. They all stood around awkwardly, shifting from foot to foot, sipping their fast food sodas and not really meeting each other's eyes. I grabbed the nearest sales lady and said, "We need some help with fitting." "Sure, follow me right this way.." We trailed her like ducklings to the fitting rooms where she turned around, tape in hand, and said, "OK..who's first?" Again, no eye contact. So I jumped in.."Me!" She measured quickly and gave my size out loud. When the girls saw how painless it was (and that I was the smallest one of them all, and I was okay with that) they all got right into the fun. Each girl was given a dressing room and several bras to try on. They came out talking about how this one was comfortable and that one was too lacy. I gave them all the tips I knew about making sure the cup fit right and the back strap should be parallel to the floor - not pulling upward. I explained that a nude color bra doesn't show through a white shirt even though it seems like a white bra would be the thing to wear. And shared the secret of a well placed puff of stuff sewn into the cup, making the most of what you have (or don't have!). In the end, we didn't buy anything. The prices were prohibitive (although it took all my impulse control not to put the $48 bra on my credit card for the girl who wasn't even my daughter). But the goal had been reached. The taboo was broken...the secret woman wisdom shared. The girls now had the tools they needed to shop on their own or with their credit-card-carrying parent.
We left the mall with three happy teenage girls in three new first-day outfits (and an unhappy man with empty golf club-less hands...but that's another story.) And a substitute mom with her cup running over with joy.