Even though Marie and I had our ups and downs, this is one of my favorite memories of an up time.
One Saturday several years ago, she called me. "What are you doing?" "Nothing," I answered. "Oh good. Can you take me to JC Penney to buy a sweater?" "Okay."
So I picked her up and proceeded to head for the mall. "We don't have to go to the mall." "We don't? But you wanted to buy a sweater." "No I don't. I just needed to get out of that house for a while!"
I had to laugh at that. Every so often she did need a break from the family members that lived with her. I certainly understood it! "Okay then, where do you want to go?" "How about the Peppermill?" I turned the car around and took her to her favorite hometown restaurant, which was actually about four blocks from her house!
This began a tradition: she would call me to 'go buy a sweater', and we would sneak out for a late lunch. Each time we returned to her house sweater-less, Robin would look at us in confusion. "Where is the new sweater?" Marie would say, "Oh, they didn't have anything I liked," or "I wanted a cardigan and they didn't have any," or "They had awful colors!" Then Robin would say, "Maybe you need to go someplace other than JC Penney!"
That bought us more time! So now we would say we were going to Peter Harris, or Sears, or Walmart, or TJ Maxx to find the ever elusive cardigan. And no one was ever any the wiser!
I enjoyed those lunches with Marie. It's sad to know that I won't have a chance to have any more with her...
Oh, and for Christmas that year surprise, surprise: Robin got her a cardigan sweater! 😄
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