Where's the Upstairs?

Emma always spends a week with my Mom after the Christmas holiday. This tradition started the year she started grade school. And as she does every year, this year, she went to stay with my Mom in the big city of Wichita Falls.

As many of my friends from Wichita know, there's not a lot to do in that hopping Metropolis. Even when I go up to visit my Mom, I still go to the mall. I guess it's just habit, as well as, one of the only things to do there. When Emma is staying up there she and my Mom make at least one trip to Sikes Senter Mall. (and no, I did not misspell "Senter")

I'll never forget the first time she went up there and stayed with my Mom during the holiday. They were at the mall walking around and window shopping, and Emma asked her MiMi, "MiMi, how do we get to the upstairs?" My Mom thought this was pretty funny and explained that not all malls have multiple stories. Emma had never been to a mall that was less than two stories, with many of the big anchor stores having three floors. When my Mom brought Emma home and shared the story with me, and I too thought it was funny, but for a bit of a different reason.

I was remembering the first time I went to a mall in Fort Worth. Cameron took me once when we had driven down here to drop off one of his cars at the mechanic's when we had very first started dating, (these days it's like pulling teeth getting him to go to Target, much less an entire mall's worth of shopping) and it was the first time I had ever been in a mall SO BIG. I was completely in awe! Because, as I'm sure you have guessed, I had never been in a mall that had more than one story.

I enjoyed living in Wichita Falls, and found it's self-contained nature comforting. You can get just about anywhere in 10 minutes. Nowadays I drive at least a half hour, without traffic, just to see a friend. I wonder how Emma will feel about growing up in a suburb of the "Big City?" We have just about anything at our fingertips... It's just a short drive down I-20.