Friday, May 10, 2013

Ambersweet Joy

  A couple of years ago, I took my daughter Mother's Day shopping.  She had saved $20 dollars and it was burning a hole in her pocket.  Unable to pass the candy store, and having no understanding of the dollar per pound candy ratio, she instantly dropped five dollars on sour blue goodness and chocolaty delight.  Her shopping money dwindled down to $15 and there is not much that one can buy for $15 dollars at the mall these days.  She normally makes me a gift such as a painting or a card. I prefer these because they last forever, but... the money was speaking to her and it had to be spent. She was determined to find the perfect gift. We wandered in and out of stores discovering that everything she wanted to buy for me would take about six more months of her savings. Sensing her frustration, I spied the fancy soap collection in Hallmark and guided her in that direction. There was an ambersweet orange soap for $13 that was in her budget.  You must know that I'm the economy pack Ivory or Dove kind of gal, and would never spend $13 on a bar of soap.  However, we were running out of options. She picked up the bar and looked it over, noting that it was exactly in her price range.  Seizing a moment of opportunity, I exclaimed that I had always wanted one, but would never buy anything so extravagant for myself.  That was all she needed to hear.  I was quickly directed to the other side of the store so she could sneak to the counter with her treasure and check out.  I never stand too far away in case I have to throw tax money her way and pretend I have no idea what she is up to.

  Now that I've tested the waters of triple milled soap, I have to admit that I had no idea that luxury soaps were so nice.  They don't disappear in a handful of showers and they smell quite nice.  I put my special soap in the spare bath that nobody uses and when I get some alone time, I go in there and soap up with the special bar and lounge in the hot water and ambersweet orange soup I'm certainly bathing in.  It is nice.  When not used, the bar is placed in a dry spot so it won't dissolve away in a puddle of bath water residing in the soap dish.  It just so happens that one bar will last from Mother's Day to Christmas when I receive another. Next Mother's Day, she beats a path to Hallmark to buy my special soap. The smell of it makes me think of her and the love she showed trying to find the perfect gift that was just slightly less than a bag of candy and a $20 bill.  So as Mother's Day fast approaches, I hope that she will once again swing by the mall and buy another bar of soap with her left over candy money. 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"...just slightly less than a bag of candy and a $20 bill."

A well-crafted line!