Frances' First Modeling Gig

Frances just spent a week with my parents. The initial plan was for her to help out my mother who just had knee surgery at the beginning of June. I had coached Frances multiple times about how this was not going to be like other trips to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

"You might need to help do laundry."
"I'd like you to make sure Grandma gets a good breakfast every day."
"Take some books you might enjoy reading to Grandma."

So you'll please excuse my surprise when I called down there on her first day away to check on her! My mom answered her cell phone and immediately said, "Hold on a second. I have to put this stuff down." Then she handed the phone to Frances and I began a completely unexpected conversation with my daughter.

"What are you guys doing?"

"Grandma just took me shopping. We are leaving the mall and she ha to but the bags down."

This was not the trip I had prepared her for!?!

I don't know why I was surprised. My mom has always been stubborn. It may or may not run in the family. I'm not telling! She had her knee replaced and jumped into her physical therapy and rehab. She had quickly graduated from walker to cane, and was doing laundry again within three weeks of her surgery. The day before I dropped Frances off, she had been cleared to drive again, so off they went.

While at the mall, Frances had picked out s new outfit from Belk. A saleslady there had recommended that Frances sign up for their Back-to-School modeling event. Frances dutifully explained that she wouldn't be around then and the saleslady told her to look up the event locally.

Frances is #modeling at #Belk #KidFest today! #backtoschool #fashion

A photo posted by Rabia Lieber (@mamarabia) on Aug 1, 2015 at 8:37am PDT

Sure enough our Belk was doing the same thing! Frances really wanted to try it out, and after a few scheduling changes, we were able to make it happen. I took her and Benjamin to the store on Saturday morning and let her pick out an outfit to wear. There weren't a whole lot of kids there, but enough to make it fun. They had games for the kids beforehand and snacks afterwards. She got to walk down a real runway and strut herself. And in the end she suckered her mom into buying her that new outfit at an extra "models only" discount.

: <--Tweet this: The beginning and end of our modeling careers!

The funny thing is that even though this was Frances' first modeling experience, this wasn't a first for our family. In fact, I did almost the exact same thing 28 years ago as a Back-to-School model for JC Penney. I didn't get the outfit, though; just the chunky necklace!

My mini me #likemotherlikedaughter

A photo posted by Rabia Lieber (@mamarabia) on Aug 1, 2015 at 8:42am PDT

This post was part of the One Word Blog Linkup hosted by Janine of Confessions of a Mommyholic and Lisa of The Golden Spoons! This week, the word prompt choices were Thunder and First.