That is all.

Me: …yeah, that’s a cute dress! I’d wear it.
Mom: (grabs dress from the rack, puts it in her cart)
Me: No! Don’t buy me the dress! Buy school supplies for needy kids instead.
Mom: I’m a teacher. I ALREADY buy school supplies for needy kids.
Me: You’re right. Thanks for the dress.

Every year she spends her own money on notebooks, pencils, etc, for the kids in her class because their own parents can’t or (more often) won’t.

And our relationship has come down to us throwing money back and forth at each other as we bicker over who’s paying for dinner, who’s paying for coffees, who’s buying what, etc. I remember Mom and my grandmother doing the same thing as they secretly crammed ten dollar bills into each other’s purses.

Anyhoo, there are great sales on school supplies (things are cheaper now than they were when I needed them, it seems) right now, so go pick up some stuff for the needy kids. There are drives across the country, it seems.