Going shopping isn't that easy
By Sheila Donnelly/Austin Daily Herald

My son, Timmy, and I went shopping this past weekend. We drove to Rochester, as I wanted to stop at a health food store to purchase Vitamin E oil. I am going to use it as an ingredient when I make lotion for Christmas gifts. I also wanted to go to a used bookstore and get some other Christmas gifts.

I dictated the list of items I wanted to purchase to Timmy as we drove along in the car. One item Timmy told me not to forget was to get a birthday gift for his friend, Franklin, whose party he was going to the next day. At the health food store, there was no Vitamin E oil, but there was apricot oil, so I decided to substitute this in my lotion recipe. As we were leaving the store, a mother and her son were tying a pine tree to the tip of their compact car. In the car, sitting in the front seat, was a younger son, looking down, ignoring them, engrossed in a book. The mother and older son were having a difficult time tying the tree to the roof of the car and I thought that I would rather be the younger son in the car reading a book instead of the one tying the tree to the car.

After the health food store, Timmy and I went to Extraordinary Books. It is a used bookstore that sells hard-to find-books and some first edition books.

Timmy was in heaven. He is a reader who has a stash of books by his bed and brings two books for backup whenever we go anywhere. He keeps a flashlight next to his bed at night to read under the covers and has a flashlight in the car so he can read when the sun goes down. I came to the bookstore with a mind to buy books for gifts, but that idea was sucked out of my brain when I started to look at all the books. The owner of the store was so taken with Timmy that he suggested several books for him. I couldn't decide on several books that I wanted and after an hour, Timmy came over to me with five books he wanted.

"If I get you these books, they are early Christmas gifts," I said.

"OK, I really want them," he agreed.

One of the books was a first edition by Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the Glass Elevator. Since it was a first edition and it cost $23, I said no to this book. I told Timmy he could get it at the library. Another book was by Betty McDonald, who created the movie characters; Ma and Pa Kettle called Hello, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle. He also had picked out Where the Red Fern Grows and two books on King Arthur. I did come to my senses and remembered to buy a book for my daughter Bridget who is an avid reader. When we got in the car, Timmy got out his flashlight and started reading Hello, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle. He was chuckling softly as we drove along in the night. We made a stop at the mall and I bought a gift for my daughter, Molly. Malls makes me so confused with all the people and so many choices that we stopped for a drink. I had a mocha cappuccino and Timmy drank a strawberry smoothie. Then we headed home. As we were driving home, I said, "That was fun. You got some good books."

"Huh?" Timmy mumbled, as he was engrossed in his book.

"I said, you got some good books. But we didn't do much Christmas shopping. I forgot what I wanted to buy after we went into the bookstore and I completely forgot about the list you wrote," I said.

"Oh my God! We forgot to buy Franklin a gift!" exclaimed Timmy.

"We can give him a card with money and some baseball cards," I suggested.

Timmy thought this was an OK idea. When we got home, we read until late. He read more of Mrs. Piggle Wiggle and I read the book I bought Bridget. I am going to have to avoid going to another bookstore until after Christmas, especially if Timmy goes with me.