這個周末要去看女兒了，老媽又樂顛顛地周六開始在家包粽子，周日去逛mall, 想著給她帶點什麽好看的衣服，好吃的東西，想象著自己左手一箱衣，右手一箱食地"進城"北上去看女兒......
從小到大，衣服基本上是我給她買、或是陪她去買的。我知道她的尺寸、喜好。加上現在有微信，一張照片過去，一個yes or no回來，再不行，還可以拿回來退，真是方便的，除了要花點時間挑。
一兩個星期前去附近的outlet已經買了一些。昨天她說，運動鞋舊了，想要一雙新的，想想家裏還有不少存貨，遂拿出來，拍照送過去，好好的Nike， Asics, 說不喜歡。當媽隻好說，那我再去店裏看看。女兒倒是說，可以去她那兒再一起買。可想想就兩天時間，還想帶她出去多玩玩，自己也趁機看看西雅圖的春色，想來想去，昨天中午又衝到了mall裏。
好久沒有逛這個mall了。偌大的停車場被圍了起來，裏麵高高的升降機依稀可見。又在擴建，建新的店麵，建多層parking lot。城市過度的開發，人口急劇膨脹，居民住宅的擴展，這座城市變得越來越擁擠，走到哪兒都是堵車，走到哪家餐館都是人聲鼎沸。
我從一個mall開到另一個mall，從Nordstrom Rack 逛到Nordstrom，鞋子最後沒買成，在另外一家服裝店，給女兒買了條裙子，給自己買了一件襯衣。今年的服裝好像流行寬寬鬆鬆的喇叭袖，衣襟前也喜歡多點皺褶，還有滿滿繡著花的透明薄紗一樣的上衣。服裝一年一個潮流，而設計師的創新又是在懷舊複古的基礎上的，曾經我們年輕時流行的，如百褶裙等，過時一段時間後，又會重新流行，就像mall裏那隻巨大的滾動風輪，輪流轉著。隻可惜人的青春不能像潮流、像服裝, 流動向前又能折回。
在Shopping的過程中，不停地與女兒微信來回。女兒最後說了一句，“不要花那麽(大)力氣給我買東西”, 不經意的一句話，卻觸動了我的心。我的女兒，一個在美國長大的孩子，不會客套，不會甜言蜜語，她說的就是她的心裏話。女兒真是長大了，懂事了，知道體諒媽媽了！
知道她平時工作忙，沒有車(公司不鼓勵開車), 周末買個菜，休息休息，偶爾去看場電影，也就過去了。而作為我，一個母親，就希望她穿得漂漂亮亮的，希望在她最美好的年華，如花似玉般的年紀活得亮麗，活出她特有的色彩。見了麵，最想跟她說的是，生活遠不止工作、學習，這世界如此繽紛絢麗，享受它，它是屬於你們年輕人的！
Coming out of Nordstrom Rack empty-handed, I headed towards a bigger mall, looking for shoes and clothes for my daughter. It was a rare muggy spring day, and I felt quite lethargy driving on the freeway I5. The mountains on both sides are barren and brownish, without the long-awaited greenness or patches of flowers that should have dominated at this time of the year. When I exited into the familiar mall, the constructions there on the parking lot, with high blocked fences and working craters, narrowed the driving ways, adding to the hustle and bustle of a busy shopping mall. Our city is overdeveloped, and is stretched to its capacity With so many new homes, commercial buildings constructed, the place is no longer what it was ten years ago, giving way to outburst of ballooning population and crowdedness.
I finally found a parking spot in front of Nordstrom, an extravagant store that has been on downhill and was rumored to go private or store reduction.
Stepping into an air-conditioning and spacious store, where fashionable commodities were gleaming under the lights, I felt refreshed and lifted from my lethargies. There were not a lot of customers on the first floor, neither many on the second. I strolled from the first to the second, glancing, looking and picking up the clothes from the shelves. What looks like in trend this year, for women’s apparel, are floral prints with bell sleeves, layered hems, off-the-shoulders, or transparent embroidered blouses. I took pictures, sent them to the Wechat family groups and awaited the feedback. At one time, my husband’s firm “No” dinged through before my daughter said anything. Disappointed, I walked out of the store, empty-handed again. I don’t know if it is my taste that is questionable, or it is really the style itself that is not to our liking. It is a store we shopped and liked before, and it is not the price issue that drove me away, as exclusion and denial came before price checking.
最好在西雅圖和女兒一起爬山:) 暖冬周末快樂！
每次讀徒兒的文章都感動,字裏行間凝聚著溫情和暖意。。