It’s Not Really About the Shoes

The other day, the girls were, once again in their room expressing their lung capacity, and testing the hearing of several dogs in the neighborhood yelling their fool heads off at each other.  Around here we call that 6:00.

Turns out, over the holiday break, (which the girls spent with their father and his girlfriend) they went shopping with their dad’s girlfriend.  They ended up at a shoe store as, clearly, my girls tend to do.  They are my daughters after all.  The girlfriend offered to buy Meredith a new pair of shoes.  Mere was all about getting a new pair of shoes.  Megan, who refuses to be left out, chose that exact moment to remind Meredith that earlier this summer, the girlfriend’s oldest daughter had handed down three pair of shoes to them, and Megan had bought herself a new pair of shoes.  So, in a nut shell, with 4 new-to-them pair of shoes in their possession just a few short months ago, there was no reason for the girlfriend to buy Mere a new pair of shoes.

Meredith didn’t follow the logic of this thinking.  All she could see was the girlfriend offered to buy her a new pair of shoes.  She offered!  She couldn’t see why or how she should have said No Thank You I don’t need a new pair of shoes.

And I couldn’t see how the girl sitting across from me, saying those words, was actually my daughter that I had raised.  So I sat out to explain to her that just because the girlfriend had offered to buy her a new pair of shoes, she was not under any circumstances obligated to accept said offer.  That in fact, accepting said offer would be rude and selfish.  When she dropped this bomb on me:

Well, you just bought two new pair of shoes you don’t need.

I had, in fact, bought two new pair of shoes (stilettos (see picture above) and boots) that I clearly didn’t need anymore than any woman needs seven pairs of black heels.  But, they were on sale, it was the holidays, and nobody else was buying me any presents.

Also? I was spending my money.

And? I bought each of the girls a new pair of shoes for Christmas. (which she picked out, and then turned her nose up at once they were delivered.)

I was mortified that my daughter thought it was perfectly acceptable to allow her dad’s girlfriend to buy her a new pair of shoes that she clearly did not need.  Their dad and the girlfriend are not by any means rolling in the dough.  It’s not like they can just go around buying the girls shoes willy nilly.  But even if they could, the girlfriend was not offering the shoes up as a gift, she honestly thought Meredith needed the new shoes.  And even though she knew she did not need the shoes, Meredith was all too happy to accept the offered shoes.

Am I over reacting here?  Am I over thinking the whole situation?  Is this a teenager thing? A girl thing? Or just a my daughter’s thing?