Tumble Dry Low

     Note to self:  When a clothing care tag says, WASH INSIDE OUT, MACHINE WASH COLD, GENTLE CYCLE WITH LIKE COLORS, ONLY NON-CHLORINE BLEACH WHEN NEEDED, TUMBLE DRY LOW, COOL IRON...It doesn't mean, eh...it'll be alright to throw it in with a load of colored clothes.  After all, it is colored.  And I did turn it inside out.  So, the water was warm, and the dryer was HOT!
     Daymond didn't ask for anything for his fourteenth birthday.  Nothing!  But he had mentioned a time or two to me over the last couple of months that he would really like to have a Varsity Replica jacket.  Ya know, like the old letterman jackets we used to get with our letters on them in high school?  Well, now you can just go buy them in the store.  It's one of the latest "fads."
     I searched online for a few days before we ventured out to the Mall to find the perfect jacket.  After all, you only turn fourteen once.
     Who knew there would be so many to choose from?  Our first stop, Aeropostale.  I loved the ones they had online and they were only $20!  What a bargain!  Obviously everybody else thought so too because they didn't have any in the store.  Not one!  So we moved on.
     Next stop.  Old Navy.  They keep up with all of the latest trends, right?  I couldn't believe it when they didn't have Varsity Jackets!  Curtis said, "maybe they're not as popular as you think they are."  I rolled my eyes and said, "what do you know, you don't keep up on what's popular and what's not."  He went on to say he'd "never seen anybody wear one."  I told him he just needs to turn the t.v. on.  Ugh...men!
     Next stop, JCPenney.  We walked in and Dakotahs escalator radar came on.  "Mommy, do we get to go on the elevator?"  "It's an escalator sissy."  "Oh.  Do we get to go on the excalator?"  "I don't know.  We'll have to see where the men's coats are at."  "Okay.  Mommy now can we go on the elevator?"  "Dakotah, it's an escalator." "Can we please go on the excalator?" "Okay, let's go."
     JCPenney's had the jackets!  I had to take a moment to rub this in my husbands face. And explain that these stores carry these items because they're "trending" at the moment.  Yes, I always have to be right.  And no, I'm not proud of myself.
      They had two colors to choose from but neither jacket had writing on them.  Hmmm....that's not really what I wanted.  I picked one out, held it.  Looked at it.  Looked at the price.  It was $50. And said, let's go to a few more places and we'll come back here if we can't find one that we like better.  "Mommy, are we going back down the elevator?"  "It's an ESCALATOR Dakotah!"
     So, next stop.  Macy's.  Curtis said, "If they have them, there's no telling how much they'll cost."  But, we threw caution to the wind and headed to Macy's.  Momma was on a mission.  I was holding Dakotahs hand and Dad and Dustin were trailing behind.
     I was doing the bob and weave through makeup, lotions, and shelves when we came to a sudden hault! Dakotah was depending on me to guide her through the store, and I was just ready to get in there, find a jacket, and get out.  I had guided her alright...right into a shelf full of perfumes and lotions.  We knocked a couple of boxes off but even worse was the goose egg it left on her forehead.
     She instantly started screaming.  I'm not sure if she was in pain or if she was humiliated!  Dakotah does NOT like attention and the lady that was working, bless her heart, rushed over to us and said, "oh honey, are you okay?  Do you want to see a picture of my puppy?"  I was just waiting for my sweet little girl to kick her and say, "how is a picture of your dumb dog gonna make my head feel better?!"  But, for a change, she was on her best behavior.  She smiled and the kind Macy's lady gave her a sucker.  I said, "Thank you." And we rushed on to the jackets.
     Ah Ha!!!  There they were.  That was "the one."  He was going to love it!  I was hesitant about looking at the price.  So I slowly, like if I didn't look too fast it would be cheaper, lifted up the tag, and it was the same price as the ones at JCPenney.  $50.00!  Yaaay!!!
     I carried it around for a while.  Looked at other things.  Just to make sure that's what we wanted to get and right before going to pay, noticed a sign above the jackets "50% OFF."  SWEET!!!  God lead me to this store!  We just saved $25.  What a bargain.
     So, after making one more stop, we got outta there.  Our shopping was done.  Daymond would be thrilled.  He got his nice, new, Varsity Replica Jacket, a pair of Nike Elite socks, which might I also add were 50% off.  Woo Hoo!!  And a three pack of Nike basketball socks.  This was a birthday success.
     It's funny how things have changed.  There were so many of us grandkids on the Zimmerman side, that when we were small all our Grandpa George and Grandma Irene could afford to get us were socks.  I remember every year before we would go to our family get together, my mom would tell my brother Tim and myself.  "I don't care if socks is all you get, you smile and act like you're thrilled."  So, every year, that's exactly what we did.  When deep down, I was always hoping for a little something extra.
     Well, I was right.  Daymond was thrilled with his socks and jacket!  He's pretty easy to please.
     And....this brings us to today.  He got the sleeves dirty and needed his jacket washed for school the next day.  It was 9:00 p.m.  I was already doing a load of colored clothes, and although the jackets care tag did say, machine was cold, and tumble dry low, I've been known to bend the rules.  If a recipe says, eggs and milk must be room temperature, I'm going to use them straight out of the fridge.  If a walking trail says, do not walk on grass, you better believe I'm going to walk on the grass.  Yes, I'm "that guy" that parks in the handicapped spot to run in the store.  Don't judge me!  I guess I'm just a rebel without a cause.
    Daymond was going to stay up late and wash his jacket.  I said, "Don't worry about it.  I'll get it."  He ask me if I was going to dry it before I went to bed.  I assured him that if I didn't, I would get up early enough to do it the next morning.  He questioned me, "Are you sure it's okay to wash it with the rest of the clothes?"  "Oh yeah, it'll be fine. Do you know how many years I've been doing laundry? Now, go to bed!"  I washed and dried them that night and went to sleep.
     DAYMOND'S GOING TO KILL ME!!!  That was my first thought!  My second thought?  Oh my gosh!  I don't know everything and I'm NOT always right?!  This can't be happening!
     I went up stairs and in my sweetest "mommy voice" I said, "Daymond, you're going to be so mad at me."  He said, "What did you do?"  There's no telling what was going through his head.  "I shrunk your jacket. I'm sooo sorry."  "How bad is it."  "Um, pretty bad.  It fits me."  He just rolled his eyes and got dressed for school.  That was the end of it?  That was easy.
     This morning when Daymond got up for school,  he put his shrunken jacket on, smiled and said, "Ya know, it was a little big anyway.  I'm glad you shrunk it."  And just smiled at me.  Aww...my sweet boy.
     So, this was a teaching moment for me.  Those tags aren't just there for decoration.  They really do mean what they say.  And I don't know everything after all.
     Following directions isn't just for men and kids.  Lesson Learned.