Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Parental Permission

You know that children are not allowed to buy things on the Internet without parental permission. After my visit to Mother, I have decided that there should be an age at which telephone operators will no longer accept a person's order from a catalog.

When I got to Mother's, I noticed a doll lying on the end table in the living room. It's a collectible doll, but collectible, to me, usually means something that will grow in value and that someone else will want to buy from you in 20 years. I'm not so sure that would apply to these dolls.

While I was there, she showed me several times the doll she had ordered that would be there in a few days. It's a boy doll, looking like a newborn and—yes, folks—anatomically correct. Did you click over to the photo? Yes, he costs $150. She has plenty of money, so it's not the $150 I'm worried about. It's the $150 on a doll.

The bottom line is "whatever makes Mother happy." But I feel concern that she will spend like that on something so [pick a word: useless; frivolous; ridiculous; _____]. And I feel sadness that this is what her life has come to. She eats, sleeps, and shops for dolls with hard rubber faces.

I think maybe catalog shoppers should have to show their driver licenses to make a purchse. Anyone over 85 would have to have a child's permission to make the purchase.

(Oh, and speaking of driver licenses, Mother showed me that she now has to carry her Social Security Card as identification as she no longer has a driver license. I quickly told her she had to get that out of her wallet. Molly will take her to the DMV to get an ID card on the next visit.)

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