One afternoon when I was around 10 years old, my family went to the Kmart out on Valencia Road and Santa Clara Avenue.

Once inside, we all went our separate ways.

Life is funny. When we were living in California, you didn’t dare tell your fellow classmates that you got something at Kmart. Kmart was looked down upon.

But in the middle of my 5th grade year when my family moved to Tucson, Arizona, little Missy was floored upon the discovery of hearing fellow classmates talking about getting this or that from there and no one was embarrassed by it. Not the teller or the hearer.

So, as I roamed around Kmart, it was with confidence knowing here in the desert, Kmart was cool.

That is, until I saw her.

Her, one of the prettiest and one of the most popular girls at Lawrence Elementary. She was also in my 5th grade class.

I froze. Was Kmart really cool here in the desert or should I really be embarrassed?

As big as Kmart was, I didn’t know where to run.

There was no need to run. She saw me and headed straight for me.

When she reached me, I acted as if all was normal, but I was actually feeling very self-conscious at that moment about being in Kmart.

No sooner did we start talking when lo and behold I saw my mom heading in our direction.

I panicked. My mom was wearing ugly black shoes that had ugly braces attached to them. She had to wear them due to our motorhome accident out in California.

My mom called out to me, and I said to my friend from class, “Oh, that’s my mom.”

We both just stared at my mom until she was right there next to us.

My mom told me that they were getting ready to leave, then she turned around and headed for the registers.

I paused before following after her.

I wanted the ground to swallow me up. My friend from 5th grade class, the one with the prettiest girl and most popular credentials, just saw my mom’s ugly black shoes with their braces that went up to the knees.

But the most incredible thing happened.

As my mom was walking away, *Susan looked at me with wonder in her eyes and said, “Missy, your mom is so pretty!”

There is no longer a Kmart on that there Valencia and Santa Clara in Tucson, Arizona. Only the memory of this little story, still stands.

*not her real name

~missy salcido wead