Shannon Stacey


The teen, the coat and one more gray for Mom

Part 1: Last winter…

We took the boys to Burlington Coat Factory, home of the eleventy-trillion coats, looking for…well, winter coats. The Short Kid’s great. He finds the closest camo pattern, says “This looks like it’ll fit, so let’s go”. The Tall Kid cost us ninety minutes of our lives. Ninety minutes I spent trying to get him to try on one of the hundreds of wool pea coats they had. His reaction to each smacked of so much derision, I decided he’d rather freeze to death than even try on a wool pea coat. (After an hour and a half, he chose a butt-ugly Dickies work coat in a greenish-grey that he felt was comfortable and practical.)

Part 2: This past Halloween…

After SK dragged his Dad off for trick-or-treating, TK and I prepared to sit on the porch and hand out candy. He didn’t want to ruin his Dork Knight look, but it was chilly, so I suggested he grab his dad’s black leather jacket. Later, when it was time to go hit the restaurant in search of real food to counteract the Laffy Taffys, he very smoothly put his dad’s leather coat back on, while Dad pretended not to notice.

Part 3: This past Saturday…

I suggested to my husband that we think about buying TK a leather coat for Christmas. He looked good in his dad’s and he seemed to like it. When we entered the mall through JC Penney to encounter an ohmigod doorbuster sale on their leather coats, it seemed like a sign. They also had some wool pea coats, but we hadn’t forgotten his reaction to those last year. After my husband tried on every one in the store, while we watched the clock and the lines to make sure we didn’t miss the 1:00 cut-off, we finally found a great black leather coat for a very great price. Yay!

Part 4: Yesterday, after school…

TK: I’ve been thinking…the coat I have won’t go very well with the clothes I asked for for Christmas, so I was thinking I’d like…

…wait for it…

TK: …a wool pea coat.

10 comments to “The teen, the coat and one more gray for Mom”

  1. Annmarie
    Comment
    1
      · December 15th, 2009 at 11:39 am · Link

    Bless your heart!

    I bet he’ll like the leather coat and if he doesn’t, he can stand in line to take it back while you enjoy a cinnabon in the food court.



  2. limecello
    Comment
    2
      · December 15th, 2009 at 11:39 am · Link

    Screw that. Kid gets a leather coat. Leather coats are cool.
    And yes, as Annmarie said. [She’s nicer, yes?] :P



  3. Lori
    Comment
    3
      · December 15th, 2009 at 11:58 am · Link

    Bwahahahaha!!! Yup, this is all ringing a bell.



  4. Jean
    Comment
    4
      · December 15th, 2009 at 11:07 am · Link

    TK is maturing into a man. I can tell, because I’ve learned there’s a lead time of 6 months to a year to get the idea into your man’s head about what you want him to do or want.

    He’s mightily resistant at first, but if you drop it at the initial sign of resistance, about 4-11 months later, your idea will pop out of his mouth. (I say 4 months, because after 15 years of marriage, I think the new idea incubation period has decreased a few months with my guy.)



  5. Karen Templeton
    Comment
    5
      · December 15th, 2009 at 12:32 pm · Link

    Heh. Welcome to my world. Times SIX.



  6. Shannon
    Comment
    6
      · December 15th, 2009 at 12:49 pm · Link

    Since we’re not sure his perception of cost didn’t come into play, we’ve asked him if he’d rather have a leather coat. He said he’s going to think about it and let us know.

    *sigh*



  7. Rhonda
    Comment
    7
      · December 15th, 2009 at 1:21 pm · Link

    Yup, that’s why they bottle hair color – of course I have girls, so we just won’t go there :)



  8. Aja
    Comment
    8
      · December 15th, 2009 at 3:34 pm · Link

    Awesome story – I can see the whole thing. :lol:



  9. Natalie J. Damschroder
    Comment
    9
      · December 15th, 2009 at 10:46 pm · Link

    OMG, I didn’t see that coming!



  10. Shannon
    Comment
    10
      · December 16th, 2009 at 11:29 am · Link

    So…he’s pretty sure he wants a leather jacket like his dad’s.

    Pretty sure? I don’t have time for pretty sure.

    Actually, at this point, he’s getting the one we bought Saturday. If he doesn’t like it, tough cookies.

    And Aja, you would have been proud of me. I didn’t hurt him. :lol:







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