Last week I channeled my inner teen and headed for the mall. As a side note, I mentally capitalize The Mall as there is but one in this city. Upon entering, I was immediately and pleasantly assaulted by the scent of Cinnzeo, which seems to be the modern answer to Cinnabon. It’s nice that, although physical stores are in decline, some things are still the same.

There were two specific reasons I was mall-shopping, and the first was that I was picking up my free bag of truffles from the new Lindt store. I had signed up for their special rewards program specifically to get free chocolates during my birthday month. They didn’t have strawberry or mint, but I did try a new fudge swirl. The lack of strawberry has been a low-key grievance in my house. I am never mad at either of my sons, but a year or so ago my younger son ate the last dark chocolate strawberry truffle that I had been saving, post-Galentines Day 2025, and I have never let him forget it. That flavour is hard to find and indeed, I have not seen it since early 2025. Remember when you ate the last dark chocolate strawberry and I never found it again? I’ll ask him, to which he responds that I never actually told him I was saving it and also it was in the basket with all the other Lindt truffles that were NOT being saved for a future, special occasion, known only to me.

Is it too much to ask that he reads my mind?

The second reason I was going to the mall was to buy a birthday gift for my mother. I had brought her a gift from Cambodia but I wanted to supplement that with her favourite vanilla-scented body lotion from Bath and Body Works. While I was there, I thought I would purchase a few lotions for myself. I don’t wear perfume, but I do like to choose a different scented body lotion based on my mood and that day’s activities.

I was approached with an offer of help by one of the salespeople, an extremely friendly and jolly woman around my age, with a haircut that can only be described as “fun.” I didn’t really need help, but I do like chatting with salespeople, particularly at a place like Bath and Body Works, where there is no commission. And although I have my favourite scents, I always like sniffing new ones. Every favourite scent was once a stranger, as no one says.

But it was so odd. Every time I reached for one of my favourites, the woman shook her head gravely. No, she’d say. You don’t want THAT one. Then she would steer me over to something very rose-forward and floral, and insist that it was perfect for me. I would nod, politely, and then go back and grab the my favourites, the scents that she insisted were Too Much. Oh, she would say, her lavender spikes bobbing slightly, her eyebrows raised. You…LIKE that? Hmm. And then she would start to steer me towards the vile-smelling peach lotions.

It’s not like I require agreement from customer service personnel on my personal scent choices, or that I fear their judgement, but it was awkward.

I wonder what her feeling was when she left work that day. I wonder if she went home and bemoaned the difficulty of working with customers who just would not listen to her. I wonder if I seemed like the exact right person for Peach Blossom or Rose Garden, and it was disappointing that I refused to be the person she wanted me to be.

Weekly Reading

This Is Not About Us. An ill-timed, crowd-pleasing apple cake brought to a septuagenarian’s funeral spurs a years-long feud between the sisters of the deceased, and that’s how this absolute delight of a book begins. I laughed so much throughout this gem; I could totally see similar things happening in my own family. What can I say, if you have a large extended family, there is never a shortage of drama! The book unfolds in vignettes, each one focusing on different branches of the family. If you are looking for a thick plot, this is not for you, but if you are looking for a wonderful slice of a family’s life with compelling and relatable characters, look no further! I loved every sentence! Interestingly, the author wrote the incredible Isola – which I also loved – but the two books could not be more different.

Say You’ll Remember Me. This was a perfect book for a road trip: easy to read, not complicated, happy ending. What more do you need? Two people fall madly in love but live far apart – can a long distance romance work? She is caring for a mother with dementia, he has a brand new veterinary practice and tons of debt. Can they make it work? Spoiler alert: of course they can. I liked how this book portrayed financial realities and also the difficulty of being a caregiver (note: mother with dementia is three years older than I am, lord have mercy). Please note the page about returning shopping carts.

Our road trip was a lot of fun. My mom enjoyed her gifts, including the apparently divisive vanilla scented lotions. Vanilla? You want vaNILLA? the fun-haired woman said to me, like I was stating a preference for BO mixed with skunk. We had a good time all around, plus, the snowstorms, cold weather, and gale-force winds took a break, and we had lovely warm temperatures. There was a lot of snow in the mountain passes, but the roads were clear and the driving was smooth.

It looks like a perfect week for gardening, we have lots of sunshine ahead of us. May the Fourth be with you, friends! xo