Furniture Shopping with My Oldest Son by Sharon O’Donnell

So my oldest son is done with grad school, passed most of his CPA exams, and is preparing to start his first ‘real’ full-time job with a major accounting firm in a few weeks. He just officially moved into his first apartment — a one bedroom apartment with a 2nd floor pool view and right in the middle of lots of restaurants and shops.  And his closet is bigger than the walk-in closet my husband and I share.  Actually, ours is  more of a -step into — not a walk into.

My son, Billy,  still doesn’t have all the furniture he needs since he was starting from scratch.  The main thing on his priority list was a TV stand. Still no sofa or chair in his living area, but hey, that’s okay. I have to admit, I have really enjoyed the time I’ve spent looking at apartments and furniture with him. I relish it. Of course, shopping for anything is not his thing at all — so it’s not like we exchange ideas about style or decor; basically, he is simply looking for something inexpensive and a reclining sofa with cup holders. I knew we would be looking for just the necessities when he told me as we set out on our venture, “Mom, I’m looking at going to furniture stores as pretty much like going to the grocery store.”  I knew that all Billy ever gets from the grocery store is cereal and milk — so right away I knew that my desire for him to have some nice lamps for his end tables would not be quenched.  Hell, I didn’t even know if he’d want to buy end tables.  I saw three lamps at Sam’s Club for $63.  THREE lamps: a floor lamp, and two table lamps that would look great. Even offered to PAY for them.  No, he didn’t want to — and I quote, “didn’t want to mess with lamps right now.”  Cereal and milk, folks.  Cereal and milk.

I will miss having him at home with  us like he’s been since he graduated with his Master of Accounting from UVA in May.  But I know it’s time for him to have us own place. Two weeks ago, I went out and looked at bedroom furniture with him, and it was delivered this past week when he moved in. This past Monday, I had some minor surgery that turned out fine, but I was sort of stuck inside the house for four days — the last spent dealing with vertigo.  On Friday, I slept in, having had a wonderful night’s sleep — when I got the text from Billy saying he was going to go out that day to find a TV stand and sofa.  I knew that was an invitation. Sleeping in later or going furniture shopping with my son??  This decision was not even close.

“I’ll pick you up in 45 minutes,” I texted him.

“See you then,” he texted back.

Shopping with a son is not like shopping with a daughter — but it is still spending time with them — which is really the whole point.

And maybe I can move some things from my closet into his.

Tags: apartments, first apartments, furniture shopping, sons