Every year at about this time, I decide that it is time to get a new purse. The current purse is usually fine (1), but with the change of seasons and new things in stores, the desire for a new purse becomes all-consuming. This year was no different.
I spent three days searching for a purse I liked. I had birthday money from my aunt and uncle so my budget was more than it has been in previous years, so that wasn’t the issue. I went to over twenty stores and scoured Ebay and various purse websites several times a day. I could hardly concentrate on work or anything else I was doing. But I still couldn’t find anything I liked and was willing to spend my money on!
I was starting to make my coworkers crazy by telling them about my search as it progressed, but several gave me good tips for places to check out. Even Sean was telling his coworkers about it (I was making him crazy too, so I think he was making fun of me a little), and one of his female coworkers told him about a spot near my work that I should go to. Yesterday, after my third fruitless lunch hour, I was starting to get discouraged and thought I should just give up for awhile – maybe look closer to sale time. But since I had some time to kill between work and my dentist appointment (2) last night, I would give the purse hunt one more chance by going to a different area of town that was on the way to the dentist.
I got off the subway and began to wander. I looked across the street and saw a store that looked like it had purses. I crossed and discovered that the store had many purses (3). Including one I really liked. However, even after looking so long, I still hemmed and hawed. What if it wasn’t the purse I truly wanted? What if I saw something better right after I bought it. I wandered the store (which was not very big), but kept returning to this purse and picking it up, opening the zippers and trying it on to see how it looked. Finally, after some more indecision, I said to myself “Fuck it, I’m buying it.”
I couldn’t believe the sense of relief I had once I left the store and realized that I had finally completed my quest. I didn’t have to look anymore – I had captured my bounty. This morning when I came into work, I wondered if I should even show people my purchase because I was afraid their first thought would be “She searched for three days, made all of us crazy with her histrionics and she ended up buying that?” However, I figured that after hearing about it for so long, closure may be necessary. (4)
I took this picture to send to my aunt and uncle to show them what I spent my birthday money on (5). I’ve also posted it here so you will have closure. And now I will do my best not to talk about purses until this time next year.
(1) I actually got two compliments about my old purse yesterday after I bought the new one – one at the store, and one at the dentist office. It almost made me question buying the new one. Then I remembered that if I wanted to, I could switch purses if I needed a fix of an old one, even if I don’t normally bother with that.
(2) My dentist appointment went okay, although my cleaning was a little rough. I did have to get new x-rays and the dentist says I have pre-cavities forming between a few of my teeth, so keep up with my flossing. After being cavity-free until a few months ago when I had two other pre-cavities filled, this ticks me off.
(3) If you want to know where I got this purse, email me and I will tell you. A hint, – it was in Greektown here in Toronto.
(4) Yup, that was really self-absorbed – I really do know that everything is not all about me, and that likely, no one really cared much beyond making polite conversation. But no one made fun of my purchase – at least not to my face, but that’s enough as far as I’m concerned.
(5) Thank you Aunt Helen and Uncle Jerry. You made this excursion go much easier cuz I had more money to play with, which really opened up my options.
