My Mom's birthday is coming up and it's one of those dreaded 'milestone' birthdays. I can't buy her jewellery, because she's in the trade, I already bought her a Kindle last year, and she bought herself a new laptop when I went back home to visit last fall (we helped her pick out a good laptop, transferred all her stuff and got her all set up). Meanwhile, because I'm not living close to her - I'm not always sure of clothes in terms of what she likes, and what fits these days.

Meanwhile, I remembered that about umpteen years ago now, I splurged on a really nice handbag for her, and I was stunned to notice that she still uses it from time to time. So of course, I went looking - thinking, 'Aha! She loved that purse I bought her at Brown's all those years ago, maybe this is what I should get her." Found some great deals.

Anyway, I found several possibilities, but I could not make up my mind, so I picked out several handbags that were contenders and e-mailed her best friend, who lives clear across the country - asking her to please "vote" on which bag I should get my Mom for her birthday. I said that I had a favourite, but was second guessing myself.

It turns out that Mom's best friend picked the same one that I was thinking of. In the meantime though, Mom's best friend demanded to know where I was ordering this nice tote bag from, because she loved it too, and was interested in it for herself. So I sent her the link to the product on 6pm dot com. Unfortunately, 6pm does not ship to Canada.

In the interim, I e-mailed Mom's best friend to say that if she can order it, she can have it shipped to my place and I'll mail it to her. She thanked me, but hasn't done it yet. I suspect that it'll be like when my Mom tried to order from Macy's - the shipping address has to match the billing address etc.

Yadda yadda yadda.

Talked to Mom this morning. I cannot keep a secret very well (but kept it mostly secret!). Said that I'd e-mailed her friend asking for her opinion on the gift that I was thinking of buying and that her friend liked it so much that she wanted one too.

So Mom tells me (without knowing even what the 'thing' is) to order one for her friend ...that she'll pay me for it.

Of course, Mom is trying to find out what the gift is, and I told her that I had reasons to be cryptic and not to ask me too many questions.

So now I have two of them coming to me. One's for my Mom's birthday present, and the other one is for her best friend who lives thousands of miles away from her. Mom has *no idea* what it is, but whatever it was that her friend liked so much, I should get her one too.

Mom's best friend loved the bag, and also said she wanted to "copy" my Mom. Meanwhile, Mom has no clue what she's getting for her birthday - only that her best friend had helped me pick it out and liked it a lot.

Little does her best friend know - I've now ordered the exact same handbag for her, and my Mom is buying it for her *without* knowing what the heck the 'secret' mystery gift is.

Mom's in Vancouver, her best friend is in Toronto.

I'm traveling to Las Vegas in a couple of weeks to meet up with my Mom, and will be giving her birthday gift to her then. Like I said, she has no idea what it is, but when she heard the story that her best friend helped me pick out her gift and liked it a lot for herself, Mom insisted (without knowing what it was) that I order a second one for her friend.

Is this not the silliest and cutest thing? Meanwhile, I will have to deal with the fact that there's still a possibility that said friend will order one for herself and have it shipped to me so that I can then mail it up to her. If that's the case, I'll return one...or ...

Maybe I'll keep one too! Then the thee of us in far-flung places will have the exact same tote bag.