Shopping for Clothes

   I don't like to go shopping unless I'm buying yarn or books. I especially dislike clothes shopping. The few times that I have gone shopping to buy something I need, I've spent the entire day going from store to store only to come up empty handed at the end of the day. The last time I did this was when I was looking for a dress to wear to a wedding. Everything was either black, skimpy or both. It really seems like clothing stores don't believe that short, stout women exist.
   If I need something there are two mail order places that I like to buy from. I know what sizes I take in the things that I need. When I need something I simply go online pick it out and then call and order. Most of the time I make do with what I have. Many of the things in my closet are 10-15 years old.
  When C said that he wanted to go shopping for some clothes to wear when we travel down to South Carolina, I was not looking forward to it. I knew most of the time would be spent looking for things for C. That part I don't mind. I also knew that he would want to find a few things for me. Maybe there would be some t-shirts, I could always use a couple of those. Hopefully we would find what he needed and then leave.
  We got to the store and started roaming the men's department. C needed shorts. There were some short for men, not as many as we expected. The problem was that all of them were well...short. C prefers longer shorts that come to his knee. Normally we can find shorts that are long enough. This time was different. It was obvious that the new style for men was shorter lengths.
  C was frustrated. When it was obvious that we weren't going to find any shorts he started looking for shirts. There must have been a recent sale that we missed because things were pretty picked over. He found some things that he liked, but they didn't have his size. We left the men's department with socks and a few t-shirts.
  We passed a rack of skirts. They were longer and in a pretty floral print. C grabbed one from the rack and said, "Try this on". It was a pretty skirt, but I wasn't enthused. Chances are it wouldn't fit even though they did have it in my size. We walked through a section of capris. C  stopped to look at several styles which I shot down. I don't like pants with cuffs as they make me look shorter and dumpier than I already am. I don't wear low rise anything. I don't like the colour. I already have something in that colour. C succeeded in finding a pair of lightweight khaki ones and put them in the cart to try on.
  We found a fitting room and no one else was there. I was happy about that. Trying things on is a painful experience and I prefer to do it alone. I started with the skirt. I had two sizes as my usual size looked liked it might be too big. I tried on the smaller size and saw that it would not fit. I tried on the other size. It fit, sort of. The cut of the top of the skirt was a little odd. It didn't really fit that well about the hips. I untucked my t-shirt. It fit perfectly over the skirt and it looked good. The length was right. I liked how it flowed. It wasn't too long. I went out to show C. He had a big smile on his face. He left briefly to go to another rack and came back with another skirt. It was the same style, but a different print. I tried it on and it fit. I tried on the capri pants. One pair fit, the other was way too tight. I put the things that fit into our basket to buy and left the others on a rack in the dressing room. This was turning out better than I expected.
  Then we went to the t-shirts. The selection there was dismal. Obviously things had been seriously picked over. I was able to find one white t-shirt and a couple other colours to match the skirts. I was fairly sure that I had more at home that would match.
  We went to the check out and paid. The skirts cost a bit more that I really wanted to pay, but I would probably wear them for several years. I prefer to wear skirts in warmer weather anyway. With a good pair of sandals they would good for walking around the Arboretum and the Chicago Botanic Garden.
  We went home and C looked through his summer clothes. It turned out that he had several pairs of long shorts that we bought last year.  The tags were still attached. He was good on shorts. We didn't need anything else. Our shopping trip was successful after all.