Mall shopping was not a common occurence in my family, though it was not because of a lack of interest in the act, but rather because of a lack of time to get there and to be there. A family of four girls can only accomodate so many outings when only one mother is transporting the lot. I remember specifically one time my sister Melissy and I shopping at KP, the mall in closest proximity to our North Kildonan homestead. I had a shirt in my hand that I wanted to buy but the options were either ask the salesperson for a dressing room or put it back. I chose to put it back. Talking to strangers was not my strong suit. Thankfully I had an older and wiser sister by my side to grab the shirt from my hands, say offputting comments about what a baby I was and ask the salesperson for me. The times when Melissy wasn't there are the reason I wore the same clothes over and over again for many years. Talking to salespeople and making purchases go hand in hand.
Something that occured regularly in my highschool days was taking the city bus home from school. The street my home was on and the street my school were on were off the same road, so it was an easy route to travel. Dad drove me to school in the morning faithfully but I was on my own for the trek back at the end of the day. My parents live at the edge of the city and therefore the last stop before the bus crosses the highway, goes through the loop and gets back on the road. Confession - if I was the only one on the bus, I was often too shy to ring the bell for the stop. I would stay on the bus as it crossed the highway and went in the loop and would get off there. This left me to run across the highway to get back onto my street. Yikes.
I think that I have come a long way. My shyness still comes out on a semi-regular basis, but I would say that if you know me now, you wouldn't see a resemblance in the girl from those stories and the person I am today. Funny how people grow [up].
V. xo
