This Is Us

I Raised My Child in a Shopping Mall

Isabel in 2019, only steps away from our condo, in the mall.

I raised my child in a shopping mall.

Not the kind of my youth: An enclosed, 1980’s dark-floored cave with a Spencer’s and The Limited, Orange Julius and Chick-Fil-A; a constant fountain whooooooshing in the background.

No, this shopping mall is a modern, outdoor arrangement with a small fountain in which people throw pennies along…