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Getting Approval

Whenever the family and I go out, things are bound to get interesting. Most of the time, that's because my siblings and I will get creative with the banter. And when there are three people goofing off, parents tend to get in on the fun, too. All in all, it works out to a very interesting time. However, every now and again, someone else will manage to surprise us and inject some fun in to the evening. This is a story of one of those times.

The family and I decided to go out to dinner, so we drove out to one of the nearby shopping areas to try out a new restaurant. There were jokes a-plenty, and a good time was had by all. It was more or less what I expected: a good time, but hardly worthy of a blog post. However, the night didn't end with dinner. For whatever reason, my brother remembered that he had to pick up a new pair of slacks. We happened to be within walking distance of a store that sold some, so we all moseyed on over to said store.

My brother knew more or less what he wanted, so I left him to his own devices while he looked around. I wandered off to a different section of the store, on the off chance that I saw something I liked. I didn't really need anything, but I was already there, and it's not like I had anything better to do.I did eventually spot a tie I liked and some trunks, so it turned out to be a good decision. However, I figured I should try on the trunks, just in case they didn't fit.

As I was walking in to the changing room, I noticed a lady helping her teenage son try on slacks. He looked like he clearly wasn't used to that style of clothing, so he looked a little out of his element. Even funnier, the dad was sitting off to the side, looking fairly bored. I chuckled a tad, but went about my business. As it turned out, my brother was walking over to the dressing room with some slacks in hand, so I figured I shouldn't dawdle.

The trunks fit fine, so I changed back in to my jeans and walked out. Since he had a captive audience, he walked out of the dressing room to get an opinion from the women in our party (my mom and my sister). He commented that his day-to-day belt didn't quite match the slacks, but he was only concerned with the slacks.

I believe it was my sister who prompted him to look at himself in the mirror, so he walked a few steps over in that direction. In doing so, he crossed in to view of the lady who was helping her son. She looked up at him for a second, but didn't say anything. My brother, however, stood in front of the mirror, and he asked for a second opinion. My mom responded and my sister gave her opinion. Then, the lady threw in her two cents. She wasn't malicious about it or anything, but she figured she'd help out, too. We couldn't help it, we all broke out in to laughter at the extra vote thrown in to the mix.

Of course, now that we were all friends, the lady threw in one more tidbit, "I like the pants, but not the belt." She hadn't heard the earlier comment, but the timing was too perfect. This led to yet another bout of laughter. Emboldened by the general feeling of mirth, she admitted that she had scoped out the pants my brother was trying on because he was roughly the same height as her son. As you can imagine, that prompted even more laughter. My brother told her where he found that pair, she thanked us, and we all walked away with giant smiles on our faces.

The dad from that family, however, had missed out on most of the hilarity, so he was curious about what had happened. Someone gave him a quick run down, and he chuckled. Then he threw in, "oh, you three are related? Wouldn't have guessed, but guess that explains why you get along." You know how sometimes, when you're already laughing a lot, things that otherwise wouldn't make you laugh can keep you going (I call it the "comedy club" effect)? This last bit was like that. I think I had laughed for a good five minutes solid at that point, and this latest bit of commentary made for five minutes and fifteen seconds.

All in all, the side trip turned in to time very well spent. My brother and I both picked up items we needed, but best of all, it was one heck of a story that led to said purchases. I may have to go shopping with family members more often.

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