Top Ten Things I'll Miss the Most: Part 8

#3 – Northpark

I know what you’re thinking.  You’re wondering if this Top Ten was done in order of importance.  You’re hoping it wasn’t so that of all the things in my life, I didn’t put shopping in the Top 3 above some other pretty amazing things.  Well, the list isn’t completely in order of rank.  But if it were, this would still be near the top.  I love to shop, and Dallas has some of the best in the country.  I’ll miss the options, the proximity and the size.  (The adage is true: Everything really is bigger in Texas.)  But this goes beyond shopping.

When Janay and I had a day off of work, we would go to Northpark and sit for hours.  We’d get some food (Auntie Anne’s for her, Panda Express for me) and people-watch.  Sometimes we talked, we always laughed and once we even helped a group of women competing in a scavenger hunt because they realized we knew where all the shops are located without looking at a map. 

I have had some of my best mother-daughter talks with Taylor in Northpark.  We would walk the loop talking about her day, her friends, her thoughts on life.  I know her better because of those talks.  I know her likes and dislikes; I know her inside and out.

Each time my brother visited, we took a trip to Northpark.  He shops once a year so we’d stock him up on shirts, jeans, pants and shoes. We would laugh til it hurt and confuse people at each store as to how siblings could have that much fun together.

I’ve had many a lunch at the Mermaid Bar with my mother-in-law.

Mikele and I have celebrated birthdays and Christmases at the N Bistro.

The week before the crazy year of Zoe’s treatment began, Vikki and I had the best day together.  For my birthday, she gave me a day for just the two of us that wouldn’t have been the same without our Nordstrom Spa massages.

Hope, Brandy and I bought our matching outfits at Northpark.  (Yes, we’re grown.  Yes, we wore them on the same day.  No, we weren’t embarrassed.)

I went into labor at Northpark.  Since then Brynna and I have spent countless hours quacking at the ducks and marveling at the water fountain.  We’ve met friends for lunch in the food court and Daddy for dinner at Maggiano’s.

I have often joked that the mall is my happy place.  That is true, but Northpark is more than the mall.  It holds more than clothes and fabulous shoes.  Northpark holds some of my greatest memories.