When you are little and you can't stay home by yourself, your mom or dad is forced to take you everywhere. This responsibility fell to my mother. She would always tell me "Do you want to come run a few errands with me." Well the first time that she said this we went to a person's house and I thought thier name was "Erin" because we would go run "errands". Very quickly I discovered this was not the case when we kept going to Mervyn's or other random stores to pick things up.
I learned that the dreaded "errands" were not fun things. It meant behaving for hours and walking through stores or sitting in cars for long periods of time. When I got tired of walking I would just walk into a store and sit at the very front by the door and tell my mom to go get everything and I would just sit right there. When I got older she trusted me to do it.
Then about the age of 10 or so my mom started leaving me home alone. I loved it. I could do anything! Including play games the whole time she was gone. Occasionally she would take me but eventually I got old enough where I could always stay home. No more long hours spent at the mall or picking up dry cleaning, but then no more long drives talking with my mom, or her always asking me "penny for your thoughts".
Quickly middle school and high school set in and I was either staying after school working on a play or with a teacher or I would go out with friends. But still I was usually home before my parents went to bed (since they had to go pick me up and bring me home, or shane did).
Then the car. I could drive. I didn't have to come home and before my parents went to bed and talk about whether I had had fun. I would just wake them up and let them know I was home and then go back to sleep. I still talked with my parents but it was at home, where there were distractions and work, chores and school to be done. The days of riding with my mom in a car had ended. I would drive myself to church. On occasion they would take me somewhere or we would have long drives to Kansas, but the freedom to drive myself had severed a significant cord.
It wasn't until today that my mom had waken me up because I promised to help her set up teacher orientation at the new high school in Castle Rock. She drove me down there and I helped set up tables and chairs for a couple of hours. When we were done she told me "Okay I just need to run I few errands." It sort of sneaked up on me. It was like getting back on a bike again.
I had done that recently. It felt awkward at first trying to still on the small seat and balance while peddling. I had gotten so used to pressing an accelerator. But I rode my bike back and forth to Phil's house everday to take care of his dogs and though shaking at first it did not take long to relearn; the high gears are for up hill, low gears for downhill. Lean with the bike if you want to make a fast turn. You never really forget how to ride a bike, it just takes a little practice.
We finished setting up and went to Carter's to pick up baby clothes for my cousin's new baby girl Alexis. We talked about when I had been a child and she would buy each of her boy's new outfits because she didn't want to just give me hand-me-downs.
Two tiny outfits later we went to Sonic, got lunch, shared onion rings, and then I guided her to an elementary school to drop off a tape. We got a little lost but eventually found it. Then it was off to Kohls for a pair of jeans for school. With what I would consider no persuasion I walked out with some more underwear too. As we checked out I noticed the cashier was a friend of mine and so she gave me a discount and coupon for my mom to use this weekend. On the way to the car my mom said "I should bring you shopping with me more often."
There it was again, like finding an old friend. I hadn't found my mother, she had always been there. But I had found the beautiful line of unnecessary communication, which ultimately is the most essential part of a relationship. We had spent the entire day talking while working, shopping, driving. I wanted to say yes. I wanted to say "Can I please help you run errands, I want to tell you about my thoughts as long as you give me a penny."
I only have a few precious days left before I embark on my life outside of parental vision . But I think I am spending one of them running errands with my mom.
