Most of you who read my blogs are familiar with Melitas.  She is my 93 (and a half) year old student who has taken over my Monday blogs…Mondays with Melitas.  Yesterday I had to take my car to the shop to get worked on and here is the run down of what happened.  Melitas, being the sweet kind woman that she is offered to pick me up at my mechanics and wondered if I could drive her to the mall.  She said she wanted to look at some new shoes.  Of course, spending time with Melitas is always a treat and what could a little shopping hurt, right?

First of all, I have lived here in the desert three years and I have only been in that mall less than a few times.  Why?  I hate to shop.  I would rather meet up with a rattlesnake on the trail than shop.  But being that Melitas can’t walk too far because of her age, I thought why not!

That was my first mistake…I dropped her off at the door of Macy’s with her trusted “warden” in tow and found a parking spot in the shade, not an easy task during the summer months, but I did it.  When I walked into the downstairs of the mall I saw Melitas was already sitting on a bench waiting for me (a good sign I thought, she won’t last long…)

When she saw me she perked up and walked quickly to Macy’s.  I directed her to the shoe department and she carefully looked at several styles.  I tried to show her some sexy 4 inch pumps, but she told me they would give her blisters.  She tried on a few pairs of shoes before making her purchase and then informed me she wanted to head over to the Ralph Lauren section.  I followed her closely in case she became unsteady, but nope, she was strong as she quickly walked to the petite section of Ralph Lauren.  She looked around for what seemed like hours and when she declared she was ready to buy I said a silent Thank you God as my back was beginning to hurt and I was getting anxious breathing in all the mall air. 

She paid and then announced she needed to go to the phone store which was at the other end of the mall…

I think I finally drove her home about 4 hours later, boy did she surprise me.  The good news is that after we arrived home and she gave us a fashion show of all her purchases she took a little nap on the couch and during dinner I still think she may have been sleeping while she was eating…her eyes sure looked closed to me…

Lesson learned…next time my car is at the shop and Melitas offers to take me “shopping” don’t do it!!  The double Bikram Yoga class was nothing compared to the marathon shopping adventure Melitas took me on…