By Jan Miller Penton

One of my Facebook friends loves to write little rambles as he calls them. They are interesting little glimpses into his world, and I always enjoy reading them. I suppose I enjoy his rambles in part, because I love a good ramble myself whether literally or figuratively.

Since our move to Tennessee my rambling has been curtailed a bit, but I’m planning to make up for lost time! Alex, my grandlove, and I sat over breakfast the other morning discussing how we wanted to spend the day. The omelets, bacon, and toast disappeared rather quickly as we let our minds roam to possibilities.

“Alex, we could do a little shopping in Sevierville and have lunch there.”

“How about the downtown shops in Morristown? You and I both love the Tea Room, and if we leave soon maybe I can try the squash soup you’ve been telling me about,” replied Alex.

Soon we were in Alex’s car with the windows down jamming. She has a really cool, eclectic taste in music that I appreciate, and the tunes drifted out the open windows along with our voices causing our arrival downtown to seem only a minute or two after we left the house.

The street bustled with happy shoppers enjoying the beautiful day as we joined the throng. We meandered through the various antique and gift shops finding a treasure or two.

“Look at this nice greenery, Alex. It would really look nice over the armoire in the kitchen, and it’s only seven dollars. That is a really great price!”

Turns out that seven dollars was a great price because in actuality it was twenty-two. I bought it anyway, but it would have been a much more satisfying find at the seven-dollar mark! I think there were two pieces twined together each with an individual price, but it is pretty anyway.

Before long it was lunchtime, but the Tea Room had a large crowd just ahead of us so we gave them our number and went to ramble a little more as we waited for a table. We had hit most of the other stores so we decided to pop into the formal wear shop next door. Usually an appointment is necessary to try on bridal gowns, but since a wedding is in the future for Alex, and my grandson, Aidan, and we were waiting on a table, why not?

As it happened, the proprietor had an opening, and we spotted a fabulous dress in Alex’s size. Long story short, the dress was magnificent, and Alex looked absolutely stunning in it. Soon we got a call that our table was ready, and the bride to be texted the moms to see if they could get away to see it.

Melinda couldn’t make it, but Alex’s mom came and gave her hearty stamp of approval. It only needs a little nip tuck here and there before the wedding day to be absolute perfection. This random shopping day will forever be a day to remember!