Glad I Could Help!

Abby called me this afternoon. She's hoping to go to Jerusalem Winter semester (we'll find out if she's in around the 13th) so she's been going through all her stuff to thin things out in preparation for leaving Provo for two years. (She's planning on a mission after Jerusalem.) She told me she had a huge pile of stuff she doesn't wear anymore for Deseret Industries. She was even prouder of the stuff that made the pile after she looked at it and said, "I forgot I had that. I could wear that." She told herself that "I could wear that" does not mean "I will wear that". Yeah, she was cut throat. So I congratulated her, then said, "Just don't buy anything else." Ha Ha. She's a girl and she already had plans to hit Nordstrom Rack with friends tonight.

Fast forward a couple of hours. The phone rings. Here's how the conversation went.

A: Mom, I need you to talk me out of buying a really cute yellow trenchcoat that looks really good on me.

J: Abby, you can only wear it until December, you won't want it in Jerusal....

A: (Interrupting me) Actually I can't even wear it until October. It will be too hot so I'll only be able to wear it for a couple of months and ... She listed a bunch of other reasons why purchasing it would be a bad idea.

J: (Once she stopped talking) And then you're going on a mission.

A: MISSION!!!! I completely forgot about that! (She's been talking about it since she was 16.)

J: You won't want to wear it after your mission. You won't want to wear any of the clothes you have now after your mission. You have to keep them for now because you think you'll want them, but you won't.

A: I hope trenchcoats are still in when I get home, but if they aren't then it won't do any good to buy this anyway.

J: And a color like yellow is likely to ...

A: It probably won't be in style any more. Thanks Mom, you've really helped.

J: If it were $10 ...

A: Or maybe $20 or $25, I would buy it, but it's $55. Of course that's a great deal because it was $140 so that's almost 1/3 the original price, which is a really good deal.

J: Silence

A: Okay Mom, thanks. I won't buy it . . . but it is really, really cute on me.

I had to laugh. She knew she shouldn't buy it. She knew why she shouldn't buy it. She knew if she called me she wouldn't buy it. Smart girl!