Girls' day out!

Abby and I had an outing today. We'd been looking forward to it all week, and we both had fun and enjoyed each other's company.

We started at the Y, where Abby used her workout book for the first time. It worked like a charm, and charmed the trainers at the Y, too, who oohhhed and ahhhed over it. Abby did every machine independently, although I helped her with one that was hard to adjust. She worked hard and I did my whole workout, too.

Next stop was the mall. As regular readers of this blog may recall, I hate South Shore Plaza. I try not to set foot inside the place more than a couple times a year. But Abby had received several gift cards for her birthday from stores at the Plaza, so that's where we headed on our first leisurely mother-daughter shopping excursion.

Though we weren't in a rush, we were on a bit of a mission: she needed new sneakers, so we stopped at a shoe store first. Of course, the style she liked wasn't available in her size, so we had a pair put on hold at another store. We'd go get them later.

Next stop, Macy's, where Abby (with encouragement from me) found a very sporty scooter skirt/jacket outfit, in pink, of course. I helped her pick out a shirt to go with it. She was pleased.

We decided we needed lunch, so off we went to the food court. Pizza and a kiddo smoothie for her; chopped chicken salad sans bacon or cheese for me. Very nice conversation, too. It was so wonderful to be out with her without her brothers, and without worrying about whether it was getting too much for her. It wasn't. It was fun.

We stopped at another store (for which she had another gift card) and she bought new headphones for her portable CD player, and a couple of CDs. We were done in the mall, and we stopped by a friend's house for a quick visit. Very nice, again.

Then, off to the other shoe store to get her sneakers. One last stop, the bank. We were done!

When we got home, we shot photos of her beloved stuffed dog, Puggie, and made movies of Puggie, Brian's dog, Lucky, and Timmy's dog, Francois. We capped off our girly day with a manicure in purple for her, upon which she drew snazzy pink polish stripes.

For years, I've despaired of ever having what I've considered a "normal" mother-daughter relationship with Abby. I've believed that she doesn't, and wouldn't ever, have the ability to, or the interest in, doing any traditional mother-daughter stuff together, let alone have the ease of conversation that I'd longed to have with my daughter. But as I think of it, there are a few things we do together. We practice her violin; we cook and bake; we exercise; we successfully went shopping today. We did nails. And I only redirected her conversation (for perseveration) a few times, toward the end of the outing, when we both were getting tired.

We're not shopping til we drop, but that's not my thing, anyway. She's not confiding the dark secrets of her heart, but she may be too young for that. Or she may not have any dark secrets.

But today, on our outing and at home, we've enjoyed one another's company. What a gift.