My Mother Should Have Known Better
Maybe I should have too. I don’t know who to blame.
“Stop wearing that shirt. You need to tell your mom to buy you stuff from ‘Aeropostale’ or ‘Abercrombie’ or something.”
My top was a brilliant yellow with a giant smiling golden retriever puppy stickered on the front. To make matters worse, it was surrounded by bright pink and blue flowers.
My mother had only recently bought it for me from Walmart. I was wearing it because… well. It was a shirt, and it did the job. I also didn’t have any particular preferences in clothing at the time. I suppose I wore it to make her happy.
I was about to graduate from middle school and enter high school.
And I was wearing shirts with giant puppies on them.
I went home crying. How could she? How dare she buy me such a stupid shirt.
I definitely blamed my Taiwanese mother for my lack of tasteful clothing in my middle school days. I will never forget when that nosy girl told me how embarrassing my shirt was. My mom quickly defended herself and said that the puppy shirt was “totally cute” and that the girl at school didn’t know what she was talking about.
I demanded that we go to Aeropostale, where the clothing was 5 times more expensive. She willingly complied, and I felt guilty the entire time. Because truth be told, I didn’t really mind at all that my shirt had a puppy on it. I was happy that my mom bought me clothing, even if it wasn’t “cool.” However, at the time, it was important enough for me to fit in.
In the end, I was able to get 2 shirts from Aeropostale from the clearance section that I wore with pride. We stopped by Abercrombie, but I didn’t dare walk in. The lights were dim, and people walked out with shopping bags with half-naked men on them. A skinny 13-year old with braces had no place in there.
I laugh now, thinking back on my early teenage predicament.
To make things clear, I love my mom so much, even if she might be responsible for some of my life’s humiliating events. That’s just what parents do sometimes, right?
Now that I’m a mother myself, I’m fully aware that she always tried her best. Mothers always have the best intentions. And for that, I thank my own.
I have a 1-year old, and undoubtedly she’ll come to me one day as well, questioning my own parenting abilities. What will it be? Who knows, I guess that is for me to find out in time. Such is life.
Speaking of my daughter, I saw an adorable t-shirt at CVS pharmacy that I ended up buying her. It has a grinning cat with glittery giant eyes on it that says, “you’re purr-fect”. It seems age-appropriate. I think her friends will love it.
