I did not drive my girls to school today. They did not take a bus or catch a ride from a friend. Together, my 16-year old and 15-year old took off on their own without so much as a glance backward. The tears that welled up in my eyes were ones of joy, sadness and fear all at the same time.

When I was in my twenties I had a friend whose mom always cried when saying goodbye to her daughter. I didn’t get it back then – I get it now.

I know you understand. Sure, I’m relieved not to be their underappreciated chauffeur anymore, but sad that those days are behind me. My 15-year old made it clear that I’m out as her go-to ride and her sister is in. Not to worry my sweet darling – I realize that it’s much cooler to be driven around by your teen driver sister than by your annoying mother. Lucky they are close and my oldest isn’t opposed to carting her little sister around on her every whim.

It’s OK, I was once that little sister too. Back then I was well aware that I had a jump on my future via the independence of my sibling. The freedom, the control the excitement of being a teen driver is, in many ways, unparalleled.

But what about the constant worry? My fear for their safety tightens my chest in a such a dramatic way, I have to remind myself to breathe.

But it’s all good, right? Every little milestone these kids reach is a notch on our belt of parenthood. Good things are happening – they are growing, they are maturing, they are becoming adults. Good God, it’s hard to believe.

One more thing

To add to the thrill of our teen driver passing her driving test, that same day we attended her first official college tour.  She loved it, we loved it and, together, we took one more step toward an inevitable empty nest.

This is a crazy time in life. Weirdly, I kind of like it.

In Store vs. Online

Lately my front door has looked the way it does in the photo. While typically a stack of deliveries on my doorstep makes me giddy, today I’m simply frustrated.

Everything in those boxes was first shopped at a traditional brick and mortar retail store (I’ll leave names out of it – no need to make matters worse). The problem is, every time I drag myself to said stores, I walk away empty handed and disappointed. I’m an immediate satisfaction kind of gal. When I attempt and fail to pick up an item I’d hoped to get my hands on right away, all I think is – I should’ve just ordered this online? Both the problem and the solution.

Issues

While brick and mortar retail stores know that they are getting killed, they seem not to know what to do about it. Things like…have stuff available for customers to buy or employ reasonably qualified sales people who remotely understand the concept of customer service might be good places to start.

Sometimes, when I enter a store I get an eerie feeling like…am I alone in here? And sales staff, if I can find them, poke around in zombie-like states with no real desire to sell.

If you are looking for something specific, you might as well forget it. Recently, I decided to spruce up a couple of rooms in my house. I hit a few home stores to see, touch and measure my items of interest and…pointless, every time! Everything I went to see was either out of stock or no longer available. Sales staff avoided eye contact and offered lame attempts to order the items and have them shipped. Um, isn’t that online ordering – I could’ve done that from home. God, I hate wasting my time.

The sales staff were never rude, but each and every time they were clueless like it was their first day. Annoying, frustrating and indicative of positions that will soon be extinct if brick and mortar retail stores don’t get their acts together.

Amazon

To add insult to injury, the influx of online customers frequently results in items that are persistently backordered. I just ordered a tiny little table online, that I could not find anywhere in a store, only to later be alerted that it was backordered until January 2018. Come on!!!! Truth be told, I find myself frequently resorting to Amazon because they have what I need, it is rarely backordered and it arrives relatively quickly. But, it’s just not the same.

At this rate, my little room makeover is going to take a year to pull together.

I know this topic has been discussed many times over with mixed reviews and potential outcomes. Here’s an article from Business Insider featuring Warren Buffet. In the linked article Buffett says, retail is “too tough an investment, especially in the age of Amazon.”

Ugh!

This makes me sad because, well, I like to shop. I hope brick and mortar stores figure this out. Meanwhile, I just got a notification that my latest Amazon order has shipped.

Grant Us Peace

I often struggle to post my light-hearted blog when so many more serious matters are happening in this world. The purpose of this blog has always been to get away from the heavy topics we are so inundated with on the news and social media. 3 Olives & a Twist is about easy reading, comic relief and pleasant content.

It will continue to be that way, but for today’s post I want to pause and recognize the significance that was yesterday. September 11th came and went so quickly. Meanwhile hurricanes Harvey, Irma and now Jose continue to make headlines.

Mother Nature is angry and it’s freaking me out.

Today I simply want to take a moment to recognize those who have suffered through these tragic events. I wish them, and everyone of us, peace.

Our world could really use some right about now.

Back to School

Today is the first day back to school for my high school junior and high school freshman. I’m thrilled to have both girls together again at the same school. I even convinced them to start off the school year in the same activity. Cross Country wasn’t their first choice, but so far they seem to like it. For me, this is just the beginning.

I have dreams of my two girls living out their twenties as roommates and, of course, best friends. Every time I mention it, in my fortune teller, I can predict the future, fashion, they roll their eyes and snicker to one another. I know what they’re thinking, our mother is crazy! It’s OK, I’m not offended.

I figure if I present the notion like, this is going to happen so don’t bother to fight it then maybe it actually will.

My Sister and Me

Then I think back to my own sister and our high school relationship. There was some hair pulling in the halls of our high school alma mater, good old Notre Dame Academy in Tyngsboro. The nuns must have thought we were nuts. There was also some lightweight weapon wielding after school when we were left to our own devices to figure out who’d do the dusting and who’d do the vacuuming. How this divvying of tasks always ended up in some kind of physical assault on one another is beyond me. If I recall correctly, our weapons of choice were sharp fingernails and a marble rolling pin. Thankfully the rolling pin was merely a scare tactic that never made actual contact. The nails, on the other hand, definitely left their mark.

Yet, today my sister is my best friend and I rely on her support and hilarious sense of humor to get me through the typical trials and tribulations of rearing teenage girls.

I just want the same level of closeness between my girls. Is that too much to ask? I figure if they can begin building their bond sooner than later then all the better.

Keep the Dream Alive

However, if their constant bickering is any indication, I may have to wait a little bit for the closeness to kick in. In the meanwhile, I’ll keep dreaming of their shared city apartment and how cool it will be for me to visit them together in one spot.

Go ahead, call me crazy, but at least I’ve given up the hope of them going to the same college.