Phew!

What a relief. This has been a great shopping week. I'm so relieved! Last Friday we decided to check out the Men’s Warehouse, just to have a point of reference. We walked in, I told the guy we had a missionary to outfit, and we were just checking things out. He hands me a little piece of paper (with three price packages) and says, there, that’s what you need. I looked at it, waited a minute, he said nothing, so finally I asked, could we see the suits? He turns to a rack, grabs a couple and says, these are the suits. So I suggested to Taylor to try on a jacket and the guy goes, oh, maybe I should measure you. These probably won’t fit (they were the very smallest they had). He measures Taylor and gets to his size. We had about 6-8 in that section, but not all of them qualified for a “missionary” suit because they weren’t the right brand. Then I had to ask to see the shirts, and the pants, and the socks. He didn’t offer anything. We thanked him, he said he hoped he earned our business, and we left. Not impressive. They guy was nice, but he didn’t offer to show us one thing. I had to ask about each detail. I didn’t say much to Taylor about how I felt since I thought he should form some of his own opinions—all I said was there wasn’t a lot of choice.

So Monday we went to Mr. Mac. Right when we walked in, Taylor looked at me and said, I already like this place better. The guy was great. We went to the counter and I asked if he could make Taylor look like a missionary—he was sporting his ratty, holey jeans, worn Chuck Taylors, T-shirt and Ramones ball cap. Let me show you basically how he looked:

This was taken at Moni's birthday party this summer--I'm sure there are more holes in those jeans. I wish you could see more, but I think you get the picture. I don't know what he's going to do without those jeans. He's determined that he's going to come home from Brazil and slip right back into those pants. As a loving mother, I am obligated to keep his clothes in a box for him. However, nobody said I couldn't introduce a few moths. Maybe that's what he really wants, though--more holes. He loves to patch them. Wow, kind of crazy.

The salesman (Carson) measured Taylor, immediately took us to the right size suits, pulled some out, tried on a couple (Taylor, not Carson), let him choose, tried on the chosen suit again, marked it. He pulled out slacks to choose from, shirts, everything. We both loved it. I do have to say, however, that I chose much nicer ties than the salesman did! Taylor tried on the shoes, got two of the same kind. We’ll take back one pair that we purchased earlier (I didn’t realize shoes were part of the package) and hang on to the others, hoping to have room to send a third pair. Am I dreaming? Maybe in his backpack?

Basically, we still need to get luggage and a V-neck sweater, as well as the toiletry items. It felt so good when we left Mr. Mac with two huge bags and the bulk of the main clothing done. I am still happy thinking about it. I couldn’t tell you if it was a great deal or not, but we didn’t really care about that. We felt like we got a good deal and we liked what was offered and the service rendered.

Like I said earlier, phew! Tonight I typed up an authorization to release health information so Corky and I can actually communicate with people if there is a medical need. Earlier in the year we had a little issue with the insurance not wanting to pay a bill. They wouldn't even talk to me because Taylor was 18. Hello! He's under our insurance and we are paying the bill. I get the rules, but really, how dumb is that? If he were paying the bill or had his own insurance, okay. But he was still in high school!

I love checking things off a list. I know there will still be some last-minute things to do, but we are getting there. This is really fun! I am having a good time and am anxious to have everything on the list taken care of. Taylor would rather leave something for next month, but I’d rather he be packing and repacking for three weeks instead of shopping. He was so funny last summer when Simona was going to work at scout camp with him. She packed her trunk and he made her redo it at least three times. He’d go in and dump everything out and direct her on how she should proceed, since he was such the pro--you know, having been there three years (that qualifies for pro, right? He thought so!). I totally stayed out of it. She didn’t holler at him, so who was I to interfere? That was really strange to have them both gone for the whole summer. At the end of the first week, there were still three gallons of milk in the fridge. I had to throw away bread. Cereal went stale. It took a good part of the summer to realize what I needed to buy or not. If I were better at keeping track of exactly what I spend, it would have been interesting to know what I actually saved. I just have to content myself knowing that I did spend less at the grocery store.

Hmm, will the savings in groceries make up for the monthly mission fee? I don't think so, but I am so excited to even send that money in every month! I know it goes to help lots of missionaries, but that is something I've always wanted to be able to do. I remember what it was like as a missionary, and there were some who simply had nothing and wouldn't have been able to be there without some help. And, my mission was expensive. My parents paid $375 a month for me to be in Italy oh-so-many-years-ago. I can't imagine what it would cost now. Corky's mission was $150, but he said that was way too much. He told his parents to send $100, and then even less later on. He said his said whopped for joy when he say how little it would cost to support him. He'd had three older brothers in Europe--I'm sure they were all pricey.

But I always thought about some people who couldn't afford it--it wasn't really fair to be sent to "a mission you can afford." That's not very inspirational. So I like the idea that we all send the same amount and it gets split every which way so everyone gets to be in whatever mission they should. Pretty cool. I don't know where the money will always come from every month, but I totally have faith that it will be there. I've seen how things work while families support their missionaries, and I'm not even worried about it. We'll be just fine. I know I'm going to miss my son, but I am so happy that he's going to be a missionary.

Sorry I keep talking about this. There are a few other things going on in my life, but mainly--this is it!

It was wonderful going to the temple a couple of weeks ago, yes, with Taylor. That was very cool. The man who helped Taylor the whole way through was Corky's scout leader when he was young. That was fun to have an important person there with us. He was very influential in Corky's life. I believe it was the day after Dwynne went. Happy day for you! What wonderful feelings for parents to see their children in the temple. Taylor and I went last week and hope to go every week before he leaves. Tomorrow we get to see Megan (Corky's niece) sealed to her sweetheart. That will be fun.