2:14

While I was visiting Libby, she introduced me to the show Modern Family. I'm hooked: totally my sense of humor and completely hilarious. But the funniest moment of the show was not intended to be funny at all, just a crazy moment of wacky sisterness... but to understand I need to back track a little...

We belong to that crazy pack of people who participate in the Black Friday mania. After the pumpkin pie and homemade whipped cream are gone on Thanksgiving, we spread out the ads and make lists and strategies for the wee hours of the following morning.

From November/December 2009

This past year we had all four sisters plus Mom, which hadn't happened in awhile, so there was quite a bit of coordination and we totally rocked the shopping. After we had hit some major doorbusters we went to breakfast at the Cracker Barrel and then decided to check out the deals at Old Navy.

The crowds had thinned a little at the late hour of 9am and we got to take our time and look around, try things on and pick things out for ourselves which Mom bought and then wrapped up for Christmas. That is FUN shopping!

We also wandered through the children's section, where I saw one of the cutest little dresses I'd ever seen. A brown and pink sweater dress... perfect for hoidays, but would still be super cute in January and February. EXCEPT I didn't see Sera's size! I pulled Libby over, and as she helped me comb the racks, she pulled out the dress in Maddi's size. GASP! How cute would it be if our daughters had matching dresses this Christmas! The answer is REALLY REALLY CUTE!

After determining that Sera's size was not there - we looked at some other choices, to see if there was another option with both sizes in stock. But there was not, the brown and pink one was just too perfect. So we bought the dress in Maddi's size, sure that we would be able to track down Sera's in one of our hometowns or at the very least online.

Ah, certainty! How "certain" it seems in the thrill of the moment! Libby returned to the Twin Cities and I to Madison. Over the next few weeks we each checked our closest store. Then we checked the stores on the other sides of town. Then we checked online - the dress was NOWHERE!

Well, December is a crazy time and while we were disappointed, we resigned to have separate dresses for the girls. So I began to keep my eye out for a different dress for Sera. Three days before we were to leave for Superior (where we spent our family Christmas this year, as our oldest sister was graduating from UW-Superior) I was frantic - no dress I saw was right!

So I called Libby IN TEARS! And being the best sister there ever was, she consoled me for a bit and then an hour later she chatted me on gmail... She had called around until finally someone told her they might have one at the Old Navy in Eau Claire, which would be en route for me to Superior. But after 30 minutes on hold with the Eau Claire store, they told her it might be in a shipment they had received that day, but she would have to call back tomorrow.

AHA! A shipment - that meant other stores we had tried weeks ago might have been restocked. So we both went into calling mode - and every store we called answered the phone with "Thank you for calling Old Navy during our Jingle Jammies event" which made me really wish my jammies were jingly... We called pretty much every store between Chicago and Minneapolis. After dinner and bedtime I made a call at 9:02, only to be reminded of the Jingle Jammies event, but then informed me she couldn't check because the store was already closed. Um, then why did you answer the phone?! Don't you know how frantic I am?! The fate of my world is resting on finding this dress! I'll jingle your jammies!!

After a fitful sleep in jammies that were not the least bit jingly, I called Libby and we went through our morning routines on the phone together. Not always talking; just listening to each other make breakfast, get Maddi out the door for school, change diapers, start laundry, change loads, just keeping each other company until finally it was 9 o'clock and the Eau Claire Old Navy was open.

We hung up and 15 minutes later Libby called me back. They had the dress in the right size! WOOHOO! They put it on hold for me and I could pick it up the next day on our way up to Superior. I found the address online and google mapped and was ready to go. We made good time to Eau Claire the next morning. I dropped Dan and the kids off at a McDonald's with a play place and then proceeded to follow my written directions.

I circled around a bit, but didn't see the Old Navy. I called Libby, told her I saw a mall, and asked her to try and determine if the Old Navy was in the mall... it was and she directed me to the nearest entrance. I walked in through Macy's and thanks to Libby's excellent mapping skills, I saw Old Navy as soon as I entered the mall. I went to the customer service desk and told them I had a dress on hold. She found it quickly and it was even on sale! I paid right away, since I needed to get back to Dan and the kids, I had lost time in my circling. I didn't even get a chance to check out the Jingle Jammies I'd heard so much about! But I really didn't process that until later. As I maneuvered my way back through Macy's to the parking lot, I called Libby and I was absolutely shaking with joy as I told her I had gotten the dress! She was equally excited and it was a very gratifying end to a month long saga.

Well, almost an end, the real culmination was when we actually got to dress the girls: totally worth all the trouble, don't you think?




Now if you've stuck with this story all the way to the end, perhaps you are wondering what on earth this crazy drama has to do with Modern Family...



When it came to this point in the show we both gasped, Libby paused the show (btw, so jealous of DVR) and we both looked at each other and burst out laughing. The dress Lily is wearing is the pink version of the one we had spent so much effort into getting for our girls. I know it doesn't look terribly similar, but having visited as many Old Navys as we had and scouring the internet, searching "Old Navy sweater dress" - it was instantly recognizable to us both.

It was such a simple moment - but remembering it has made me giggle out loud several times since it happened. And that's the idea behind both our 'shows' celebrating and laughing at the wacky moments of the family experience - it just makes the harder times so much easier to push through :)