Confessions of a Shopaholic, part two
A little over four years ago I said I was ready to jump back in, turns out that wasn't really the case. Four years and now some months ago it was the beginning of august in 2013; I had just graduated high school, spent the summer doing who knows what, probably nothing more than spending time with my 4 year old brother and my best friend and older sister adventuring from Fort Lauderdale to Pembroke Pines to Aventura all in a day courtesy of Broward County Transit.
Times were much simpler then, none of us had cars, licenses, or even money to spend at the mall but we all wanted to spend the 2.5+ hours on the city bus, just to get there, walk around, and later turn back around, getting home after sun fall. Our parents wondering what we did with the day but never really worrying, we were creatures of habit and the Aventura mall was the place to be. A cool spot. There were rarely people there our age because there were no discount stores and American Eagle, Gilly Hicks, Urban Outfitters, and the other clothing labels sold there were a high buck we could only afford after Christmas and the one item we'd get would take all our money and maybe a few dollars from a friend or older sister.
Prompting of the the beautifully colorful over-sized silk scarf at Desigual, I wanted nothing more than to cover my 98.6 degree body in this scarf, wearing it everyday for the rest of my life. costing about $100 on sale and after tax totaling around $107 and some change. I was three dollars short and it was the first thing I saw when we walked into the busy shopping center just days after Christmas holiday. I checked every pocket to ensure I hadn't hid money in another pocket.
I was a worrisome child. While if you looked at me you could tell I was a broke child at Aventura Mall without parental supervision, I always remembered while we were in a nicer area, we were still in Miami, and one of these days someone would steal all the money I had in my pockets that day and I wanted to make sure had it happened, they wouldn't get away with all of my money. Cutting to the chase I begged my sister for the remaining three dollars I didn't find in another pocket hiding.
Being the eldest of the group she reasoned with me long and hard. It was the first thing I had found, I was destined to find something more reasonably priced, or several things more reasonably priced. There was a newly opened forever 21 with a promising plus size section ending my primarily online shopping habit.
My sister was right, was she right, or did I just side with her? I sided with her.
While she offered to give me the last needed three dollars, I decided against it, I decided I wanted more than the scarf everyone I knew would get tired of seeing whenever I was asked to dress nicely, I also decided I wanted food and not to starve til we made it back home or somewhere I could beg my sister to purchase me food.
Weeks following this monumental event in my newly found rich life ($100 was a nice chunk of money) it was time to go to college and there were thousands of questions racing through my mind.
Would I even like college? How will I suddenly cope with being independent after a whole life of being sheltered? How do you even make friends? A question that seemed troublesome coming from a newly 18 year old, but realistically, I'd spent the last ten years with the same friend group with the addition of maybe four new and interesting individuals. It felt like they knew my soul better than I knew myself, but weren't a sufficient help in remedying my first years struggles. These were all alarming issues I'd soon have to face.
Times were much simpler then, none of us had cars, licenses, or even money to spend at the mall but we all wanted to spend the 2.5+ hours on the city bus, just to get there, walk around, and later turn back around, getting home after sun fall. Our parents wondering what we did with the day but never really worrying, we were creatures of habit and the Aventura mall was the place to be. A cool spot. There were rarely people there our age because there were no discount stores and American Eagle, Gilly Hicks, Urban Outfitters, and the other clothing labels sold there were a high buck we could only afford after Christmas and the one item we'd get would take all our money and maybe a few dollars from a friend or older sister.
Prompting of the the beautifully colorful over-sized silk scarf at Desigual, I wanted nothing more than to cover my 98.6 degree body in this scarf, wearing it everyday for the rest of my life. costing about $100 on sale and after tax totaling around $107 and some change. I was three dollars short and it was the first thing I saw when we walked into the busy shopping center just days after Christmas holiday. I checked every pocket to ensure I hadn't hid money in another pocket.
I was a worrisome child. While if you looked at me you could tell I was a broke child at Aventura Mall without parental supervision, I always remembered while we were in a nicer area, we were still in Miami, and one of these days someone would steal all the money I had in my pockets that day and I wanted to make sure had it happened, they wouldn't get away with all of my money. Cutting to the chase I begged my sister for the remaining three dollars I didn't find in another pocket hiding.
Being the eldest of the group she reasoned with me long and hard. It was the first thing I had found, I was destined to find something more reasonably priced, or several things more reasonably priced. There was a newly opened forever 21 with a promising plus size section ending my primarily online shopping habit.
My sister was right, was she right, or did I just side with her? I sided with her.
While she offered to give me the last needed three dollars, I decided against it, I decided I wanted more than the scarf everyone I knew would get tired of seeing whenever I was asked to dress nicely, I also decided I wanted food and not to starve til we made it back home or somewhere I could beg my sister to purchase me food.
Weeks following this monumental event in my newly found rich life ($100 was a nice chunk of money) it was time to go to college and there were thousands of questions racing through my mind.
Would I even like college? How will I suddenly cope with being independent after a whole life of being sheltered? How do you even make friends? A question that seemed troublesome coming from a newly 18 year old, but realistically, I'd spent the last ten years with the same friend group with the addition of maybe four new and interesting individuals. It felt like they knew my soul better than I knew myself, but weren't a sufficient help in remedying my first years struggles. These were all alarming issues I'd soon have to face.
Comments
Post a Comment