No, Son, You Can't Pee Behind SubWay!!

I can hardly believe my 13 year old son has to start back to school next Monday.  The summers are so much shorter than when I was in junior high school.  Now, I am remembering all the things I needed to get done before he starts back to school.... a physical, a dental cleaning, and several other little things.  Jeez, why did I wait until the last week...???  Because I thought the summer was longer!!

Today we decided to do his "back to school" clothes shopping.  I handed him $160 and told him if he shopped smart he could purchase quite a few pieces of clothing.  I'm always picking him up clothes when I see them on sale, so honestly he doesn't need clothing. I was thinking to myself that he really hasn't grown much and he has several pairs of nice shoes his older brother bought him over the last 6 months or so.  His older sister just bought him a new pair of Sperry boat shoes so, I felt he was good in the shoes department.  First thing he tells me is he's doing all his shopping at Hibbets and he wants a $40 Nike backpack and $85 Nike Shoes.  I go into the speech about how ridiculous it is to spend $40 on a backpack when he has several already, two of which are Under Armour brand.  He decides he'll just get another Under Armour because they are only about $10, he says.

We live in a very rural area in Tennessee and he wants to go to Hibbets in Athens, Alabama (not a big city, but a city).  We all load up..... my son, his friend from next door, my best friend, Tam and of course, me.  We get to Hibbets and the boys go rushing in ahead of us. I'm already getting a headache and regretting making this shopping expedition on a Monday.  My little man found a couple of pairs of shoes on sale in the $50 range, but he just had to have the $85 ones (hey that's cheaper than what his brother buys him).  Then he moves on to clothes and picks out one outfit (I mean just sports shorts and a shirt) that is $60 and then decides he wants a pair of $32 Nike sandals.  I just look at him and tell him he needs to add up and see that he doesn't have enough money and I refuse to buy the sandals when he received a pair of Under Armour ones in his Easter basket (yes, I still do Easter baskets for my kids).  He tries on clothes and makes his final decision and goes to check out and he's about $30 short and still NEEDS a backpack (it's $20 not $10)..... so, what do I do??!!  I send him out of the store add a cheap pair of shorts for myself, another pair for him and that darned $20 backpack.  I ended up spending $260 for 1 pair of shoes, 3 shirts, 3 pairs of shorts, a backpack and my cheap sale shorts that were $4.95.  I have lost my mind! If he kept up with all his clothes it wouldn't be so ridiculous on my part!  What happened to the little boy who was happy with WalMart brand basketball shorts??  

Next we go to Dollar Tree and knowing he has no money left I give him a few dollars.  He tries on sunglasses and can't decide between two pairs, so, he buys both.  Just had to spend all his money!!

I'm ragged by this time and so is Tam from all the noise and confusion of shopping with two little boys!!  We went to Subway to eat and when we get inside my little guy insists he needs a foot long sandwich.  I just roll my eyes and tell him to get whatever he wants.  I'm secretly thinking I just want to feed these monsters and get back to my home in the country! To my amazement he ate the entire sandwich along with a bag of chips and root beer.  My 13 year old only weighs 74 pounds and he's only 4foot 4inches tall.  I am astonished at the amount of food he can consume.

As we are leaving we decide to stand outside and have a smoke (just Tam and me).  I don't smoke in my vehicle and never around my son because he has asthma.  While Tam and I are smoking my son looks at me and starts to walk to the back of the building while saying "I have to pee"!!  Horrified, I tell him he can't pee behind the subway building because we are in town.  He argues for a few moments and finally goes inside to use the facilities!! lol


Rural life really is different because you can pee in the yard if you want to and chances are no one is going to see you.  I've recently done it myself lol..... we had a really bad rain storm that knocked out the electricity one night.  At this particular time we had removed the kitchen and dining room floors and joist because they were termite ridden.  I had to go really, really bad in the middle of the night and couldn't find a flashlight.  No way was I walking down that long dark foyer, stepping down two feet to nothing but dirt (where there might be things that could grab me) to cross the dining room to get to the bathroom.  I had a real problem on my hands because I really had to go.  I looked out the front door and saw the solar lights shining bright!!  I walked out to my big long porch, felt my way around the dining room table and chairs (remember, no floor in the dining room), got to the end of the porch, held on to a porch post and did my business!!  YES I TRULY DID THIS JUST A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO!  Hey, when you live in the rural south you can get by with popping a squat in the dark at the end of your front porch!!