The Purse That Wasn't But Then Was

Way back in the land before kids I sorta, kinda had a purse obsession.

I would buy them here and there and switch them out frequently. To match my outfit. To match the season. To match my mood.

I never spent very much on my purses. So it wasn't a designer purse obsession, it was just a whenever-I-see-a-cute-purse-I-must-have-it kind of obsession.

But then I got old and had kids. Not necessarily in that order. And switching out purses took too much time. And all those cute handbags I had seemed way too small for the amount of things I needed to be packin' when I was plus baby.

I still loved me some cute handbags but now I was more practical about it. It had to be big. Not huge. Just good-sized, let's say. And it had to be better quality. I only switched purses about once a year now so I needed it to last. I still wasn't in the market for a designer purse but I could afford to spend a little more on a purse that wasn't going to fall apart.

OK so now we're at the meat of the story. You were wondering where I was going with this, weren't you?

A few weeks ago I found myself inside Marshall's. I was supposed to go to Macy's but I passed Marshall's and so I made a quick stop. I was in need of new sheets for William's bed and new pillow cases for our bed. So how I wound up in the purse section is really quite mysterious.

But there I was with this beauty staring back at me.

The only problem was that this was a designer handbag. It was half the price of its original retail value. But even that price was still twice as much as I was willing to spend on a purse.

After carrying that purse around the store for eons I decided that I could not, in good conscience, spend that amount of money on a purse. I thought about how many groceries I could buy with that amount of money. Or how many gallons of gas I could buy for our car. Or what that money would cover in a month's worth of bills.

Being a mom has made me so practical. And practical is sooo boring. But somebody has to take the burden so I guess it'll be me.

Fast forward a few weeks: I could not, for the life of me, stop thinking about this stupid, but oh-so-beautiful purse. The soft feel of its genuine leather. The perfect size of its interior. The just-right length of its strap. The not-too-bright but not-too-soft greenish color.

I think I believed that this purse was fated to be my lover for all of time.

Yesterday was my birthday. It fell on a Sunday this year so instead Brian planned something special for Saturday. My Birthday Saturday, as he called it.

My brother was slated to come over and Brian and I had the afternoon and evening all to ourselves. We went shopping, among other things. We were supposed to go directly downtown but when we got in the car I asked if perhaps we could just swing by Marshall's real quick. And because it was MY Birthday Saturday, he agreed.

I walked in the store and briskly marched back to the purse section. There it was was! My lover was still there waiting for me.

"Get it," my other lover named, Brian, said.

No discussion. No back and forth. No pondering. Brian's not a careless spender. But he knew I wanted it and he knew it was my Birthday Saturday, after all. Plus, I think he was sick of me whining about it.

Being practical is good. But allowing ourselves to spend a little extra every once in a great while is pretty good too. And I can't tell you how happy it makes me to slip that beautiful, green purse over my shoulder whenever I leave the house.

So that's how I got the purse that almost wasn't.