UNITED STATES—Why, why is it so hard to shop for your parents America? This is something I struggle with all the time, especially my mother. My dad, I never have a problem finding a gift for him, but my mother, gosh, I’m always stressed to the limit to try to find the perfect gift. You all might be asking me, why, why are you stressed, it’s simple, give her something she wants. That is the problem America. What do you get for a person who seems to have everything.

My head starts spinning about ideas, but my mother never makes it easy when it comes finding her something she likes. I know you might say get flowers. Nope, not going to happen because I think it’s a waste of money, and if I’m being honest my mother always tells me not to buy her something that is just going to die anyway. With that said, you might say what about a purse? Well she has so many purses and every time I consider that as an option, she finds a way to purchase the item before anyone else can purchase it for her. Yes, it’s a bit frustrating America.

Jewelry, not really my cup of tea because I think her husband should be responsible for that, and I recently got her a nice watch for Mother’s Day anyway, so go figure. Shoes? Yeah, that is a dicey one because her style I have the slightest idea and that is more up my sister’s alley than mine. So I tend to always stumble on the one thing that she seems to ask for all the time, and I know she can choose to get what she wants without me stressing about it: money.

I hate and I mean it with a passion, hate giving my mother money for her birthday, but it seems so many times it’s the one thing that makes her happy and if it does who am I to sit here and complain about it. Heck, when people used to ask me as a teen and a young adult what I wanted for my birthday or Christmas I would always say money. Who doesn’t like this commodity that allows you to purchase the items that you want and you’re not giving that facial expression where a person knows you don’t really like the gift, but you are faking as if you do. It’s just plain awkward and it’s something I prefer not to deal with at all.

I guess it’s so much easier just to go directly to my parents and ask them to tell me SPECIFICALLY what you want for your birthday. However, that is a double-edged sword because they now know exactly what it is that I was going to get them. That takes away the element of surprise, which is what I aim for when getting a gift to people. Stressing about people’s birthdays should be the last of my worries, so this just adds to the notion that in life keep it simple: if they tell you what it is they want, give’ em what they want.