We Have Our Hats.

Growing up in a family that owned and ran a few small women’s clothing stores in the 1950s and ’60s, I often wondered why I didn’t like shopping too much. I didn’t mind it — nice clothes were and are fun to have — but I never embraced the “we’re going shopping!!!” excitement that gripped so many of my friends.

I know my mother adored shopping, especially in “our” stores. She could spend all day there, both enjoying the nice things she could buy and the fact that she was the owner’s wife. I used to hang back, not entirely comfortable with the attention she received or the endless dresses she wanted me to try on when I got old enough. (Most of my girlfriends thought I was nuts. They would have traded their life for mine in a heartbeat!) She loved pretty, NEW things.

Fast-forward to today, and I still feel less than excited about shopping, especially clothes shopping. Boring! (And most of my women friends think I’m nuts.)

Maybe it’s due to my dislike of the attention my mom needed and got in those days.

Maybe it’s because I’m an adopted kid and just not the same as she was.