I recently had a “girl’s only” day out with my youngest granddaughter. Emma is ten and has an older brother who has Autism. Matthew’s condition means that he can only live on a strict schedule. Autistic children cannot cope with change so every day has to be planned in advance and, if the plans have to be changed by unforeseen circumstances, the result is long, loud tantrums which are very stressful for everyone concerned.

Emma is a very outgoing and happy child, she understands that plans have to revolve around Matthew and is usually happy to go along with whatever is planned. Because of this she was really happy and excited to be having a girl’s day out with grandma.

My car rolled into their driveway a few minutes before our prearranged time of ten am. She was dressed in her best with shiny, well brushed hair and was dancing from foot to foot. She had asked if I could make her a new pillowcase, she knew exactly what she wanted, it had to be a certain shade if pink, which is her favourite colour and it had to be home made, not store bought. Simple enough I thought and had decided to take her to pick out her own fabric.

My daughter doesn’t sew so Emma had never been in a fabric store, I thought picking out her own fabric would be fun for her. As we entered the doors of Fabricland, she gave a loud gasp and her mouth literally dropped open at the huge display. I had given her free reign to pick her own stuff so she set off at a gallop to the nearest stack of pink material. I had thought that as satin/poly mix would be ideal, so I guided her to the display, but it wasn’t what she wanted.

With the help of a very accommodating sales assistant, Emma toured the entire store, bridal, fleece, cottons, lace and even furniture fabric, none met her expectations until she arrived at the section on of flannelette Here she stopped in her tracks. I thought the search was over but now she had to go through the selection of prints. There were approximately two hundred bolts of flannelette and there much have been a minimum of 60 pinks. I could see this was not going to be an instant decision so, with instructions she was not to pull any of the bolts out of place, I went to the restroom.

I came back to find she had enlisted the help of the hapless assistant to pull out the bolts for her. We were in the store for over an hour and I must commend the sales assistant for her patience, she didn’t even flinch when I gave her my massive order of .75 of a metre.

Next stop was Value Village. I had given Emma $10.00 for the visit to the thrift store and she was intent on looking for LPS toys. For those who do not have little girls in their midst, this is short for Littlest Pet Store, which is the latest rage for the younger set. These little toys are about two inches high with an outsize head that is interchangeable with other models. It looks like it should be given away in a McDonald’s happy meal, but no such luck, each toy is a minimum of $4.00 and are much sort after.

Emma has been lucky at Value Village in the past, finding quite a few of these treasures, she currently has over one hundred but is still searching for different models. She made her way to the toy section where approximately a hundred plastic bags, containing several small toys, were hanging on wall hooks. She started at one end and I attacked the other end. Each hook had four or five bags hanging so it took a while to search for the treasures. We met in the middle of the racks and Emma had found only one toy and she already had two of the same toy, so it was discarded. She then searched the section that I had already done as my old eyes were obviously not to be trusted.

Very disappointed she admitted defeat and we left the store. Emma had ideas of visiting other thrift stores but it was already twelve thirty and she was ready for lunch. I had promised that she could pick the restaurant and she asked for Denny’s as she really loves pancakes. The restaurant was packed but we got a table and our drinks and menus. Several minutes of perusal and she had decided on her meal, we then had about twenty minutes of frantic conversation as she had realized that Saturday was garage sale day, and at garage sales, were maybe the much sought after LPS toys.

Luckily, by the time we had eaten it was past one thirty and I knew that garage sales would be closing if not already closed. On the drive home, Emma’s eagle eyes saw an ad for a sale and I pulled over to read it. Squeals of delight as she read that they were advertising LPS toys, oh joy! However her joy was short lived when I pointed out that it was for last week’s date. We stopped to read a couple more signs but, luckily for me, they were already closed for the day. Foolishly, I heard myself agreeing to do the garage sale thing on another day, fortunately she didn’t pin me down to a particular day, so I hope it is not too soon. Girl’s day out is very tiring when there is a sixty year age difference, however it was wonderful to see the world through the eyes of a child for a few hours.

I dropped her off with mom but on the way home I stopped at Fabricland again. The sales assistant tried to look enthusiastic at seeing me again but I made her day worthwhile when I purchased fabric to make myself a new dress and also enough flannelette to make a reversible duvet cover and several pillows for a certain little girl’s birthday, of course I picked several shades of pink. I think she will be pleased.