Shopping with Daddy

I wonder if years down the road, I'll sound like my parents, or my children will view me in the same light as I view mine.   I admire my parents, respect them, and would love nothing more than to be as great at parenting as the two of them were and still are.   Shopping with them for electronics; however, is most excruciating if for no other reason than my dad wants to be technically savy, but has no real clue about it while my mother refuses to embrace the 21st Century and all of it's modern marvels.  

Last weekend found my husband and I joining my parents at HH Gregg to look for a new television for their family room, as their projection screen television had developed a mind of its own and would no longer stay on after an hour of viewing.   Beforehand, my husband did his best to school my parents, more specifically  my dad, on the differences between LED, LCD, and Plasma televisions.  My parents took their newfound knowledge and set off on their own to television shop, which obviously led to them being more confused and coming home to the dreaded black monster (their aged television).  

We walked into HH Gregg and immediately my husband began his search for the best option with the best price.   I followed along dutifully  as shopping for televisions isn't my cup of tea, but it is almost a sport of sorts for my husband, one that he never loses.   After a few moments, a sales associate came up to join us.   Within a matter of minutes, my mother quickly informed the associate that she wanted her old console television back, while my dad wanted to test the associate's knowledge of televisions by asking, "Can you tell me the difference between an LEC and a Plasmic?"  I shook my head and looked down at my feet, unsure if I was more embarassed for my husband and I or for my parents. 

After an hour, my parents settled on a 51 inch Panasonic Plasma television and while my mother was paying for it, my dad wandered off yet again. This time I found him in the aisle which housed radios, cd players and iPod docking stations.  Now, it should be noted that we bought my dad an iPod Nano for Christmas a couple of years ago and yet he still calls me when the battery is dead because he doesn't know how to charge it.  It's perfectly alright to shake your head and say "Bless his heart" to this statement, as I've been doing that for quite some time.   My dad found one particular boom box that he drew a liking to.   It had a place to dock his iPod, play his c.d.'s and even listen to the radio, basically everything you could need except for one thing.

My dad looked at me completely sincere and bewildered as he asked, "where do I put my cassettes?"  And even though he says things like this loud enough for the whole store to hear, I will continue to shop with him and hopefully get him into the 21st century befoew he dies.