shopping spree

At least once or twice a year I take each of my grandchildren on a shopping spree, It's my usual practice to take each of the four on a shopping trip as their Christmas gift. Sometimes we do the same thing for birthdays. Today one granddaughter and I enjoyed a day of shopping and lunch to celebrate her 14th birthday.  One of the great joys of a day like this for me is the chance to listen to what's going on in their lives. While I listen to talk about life as, in this case, an 8th grader, I realize that, even though we never used computers or laptops in school or got to use our phones during the lunch hour as a special treat, much of the social interaction that goes on sounds all too familiar. I also enjoy observing how shopping patterns have changed. Today we zipped right past "Build a Bear" and "Claire's Boutique" and spent our time at "American Eagle" and "Barnes & Noble". The other nice change is that, while I treated her to lunch, later in the day she treated me to a drink at "Starbucks". It's such fun to watch them growing up.