"Oh, Kaye!" chats about mothers and daughters

Mother's Day isn't until next Sunday, but close enough.


Mothers and daughters.  


Much has been written of the topic of mothers and daughters.


It's complicated.


There's love and light and laughter.


But for some, sadly, there's darkness.


I feel lucky and blessed to have had a mother who loved life, loved to laugh, and taught me to find humor in most things.  

She was irreverent in what she found funny, and made no apologies.

She had a salty tongue, and made no apologies.

She was steadfast and loyal to family and friends.  Make trouble for one of her sisters, her husband, or me and deal with a fury named Hazel.

But, if you were a friend you were a friend for life.


She taught me a lot.


One of the things she taught me was a love of nice clothes.  (And jewelry, but that's another story for another day).

And to never pay full price.

Well.  Okay,  "Rarely" pay full price.  I admit splurging on a little red Nanette Lepore dress.  I make no apologies - I still love it.

Her philosophy was there was always a sale.  If you were patient enough and smart enough, you could find that special dress, shoes, purse, coat, whatever at a better price.  And if you couldn't?  Pfft.  You'll find something better.  (But she agreed, she too would have paid full price for that adorable little red Nanette Lepore dress).

We made a game out of bargain hunting over the years, and Donald was appalled the first Christmas he spent with us when I gave my mom a gift that still had the price tag on it.  But.  It showed the original price, the sale price, the next sale price and the final clearance price.  I had to make sure she saw this! 

He finally got used to my mom and I doing this. 

Kinda.  

It did offend his sensibilities. This was not how he was raised.  You just do not talk about what something costs, and you certainly don't tell someone how much you paid for a gift you've just given them!  And, of course, he's absolutely right.  His mother and dad raised him well.


But, they didn't know Hazel back then.


Not to make it sound as though she carried on like this with everyone.  Of course not.  She had manners, and she knew how to act, and she did have her "proper" side.  

She would never have left the price tags on a gift to anyone other than me.  No matter how great the bargain was.


But this silliness?  This was one of those fun/funny Mother/Daughter things.  It was something we had been doing for my whole life, best as I can remember.


A few years back, I bought her a gorgeous black leather purse. 

And it was a steal, let me tell you.

She loved that bag and carried it for years.  


When she died and I was cleaning out her closets, I found it.  And the price tag was tucked in a zipper compartment.  The tag showed the original price and all the mark-downs.  I cried, of course, but there was laughter mixed with those tears.  There was no one like my mom.


Sometimes when I come across one of those  "too good to be true" sales, I feel pretty certain she's right there with me.


Shopping a couple weeks ago at our little Boone Mall, which has approximately 30 stores, which is (I think) just right, I found an adorable little black dress.

I have this "thing" for little black dresses.  Just like I have a "thing" for crisp white shirts.  My closet is too full of both, but if the price is right, I can't help myself.

This little black dress is not a dressy dress, it's casual enough to just toss on and go.  And my rationale for buying it was "it'll be perfect for Paris!"


And this - - - 

And I could see in my mind, my mom smiling at me and saying, "Honey.  You stole that little black dress.  I'm proud of you."

How 'bout you, Dear Reds.  Is there a Mother/Daughter tradition you share or shared with your mother?  Or one you share with your daughters?