Shopping, Shopping, and Shopping

Carmel-by-the-Sea, California


No small part of our job, as fristers, is to support and encourage. During our recent Las Chicas weekend, Debra, Lydia and I shared problems and fears; our individual, unique takes on life and philosophy -- even religion raised its head during a weekend filled with conversation, discussion, and, well, silliness. This is what we do when we are together. We turn over stones, we question life's meaning, we laugh a lot, and . . . we shop.


Now, remember my blog's mission statement (if you will) which is stated on the home page? Before beginning my blog, I had this epiphany (if you will) that one should focus on three things in life -- three things which bring you joy; about which you feel passion; which are the top three interests in your life. To reiterate, my three things are cooking, dancing, and writing. Well, this topic came up again, when, during the weekend, we started talking about our eventual retirements (as if). Both Lydia and Deb work for school districts, so when the time comes, they will be guaranteed a pension. No small thing.


Financial support aside, the question of how people will fill their time once they are retired remains. I worry a bit about this with Billy. He hasn't really zeroed in on his three things (or five, or one, for that matter). But he's got time to work on this. He is good at art and design. Despite struggling with a learning disability when he was young, he reads a lot. And he has the makings of a pretty good golfer. But, I'm straying away from the subject (yeah, like that's a first . . .). This weekend we spent a little time trying to convince Lydia that she needed to start thinking about her three things.


And, to be fair, it's not like the woman has nothing going in her life. She has a consuming job in special educational administration. She has a multigenerational and multiethnic (it's like the United Nations at her home) family. And, as illustrated in a previous post entitled The Monogram, she has, in recent years, taken on the responsibility of doing all the cooking at her home. She be busy. And, she's also a voracious shopper. Not to put too fine a point on it, but this girl SHOPS.


She pointed out that she already had a hobby, and that is, again, shopping. I responded that shopping was a good pastime (I mean, I'm in), but that she seriously needed to focus on choosing three things as follows: 1) one that is physical; 2) one that is artistic/creative; 3) one that feeds her soul. She gave me a long look then said shopping is physical -- you have to walk around. Shopping is creative because you have to choose to purchase things that work in concert with each other and/or with things you already own. And, lastly, shopping feeds my soul. So, asked and answered. The girl's good to go.


And this is how I got exercise, got creative, and fed my soul yesterday. I bought a table. It was a table from Pottery Barn that I had lusted after for about three months. Yesterday I discovered that, on line, it was sold out. But I found one at a Los Angeles area store. Billy is not a Pottery Barn kind of guy, and I had to do some campaigning to get him onboard. Luckily, he was in Happy Wife, Happy Life mode (he's in LA; I'm in Carmel, and absence makes the heart, oh you know . . .). With the table ordered over the phone, I took off for Del Monte Center to find out if my iPod (which rolled over and died during our recent Las Chicas weekend) could be resuscitated. It could not. But instead of replacing it, I replaced my phone with an iPhone, which I am already loving (I seem to be in total Mac conversion mode). Last but not least, I bought a raincoat (it hadn't rained since we got here on December 17th, but a front had finally passed through late last week).


Ms. LOL was right. I hiked around and got some exercise at Del Monte (which is an outdoor mall -- love that). I got artistic/creative by picking out a table which will compatibly fit in the eclecticism of our home furnishings. Plus, I picked a color (silver) for my iPhone, as well as a color (black) for my raincoat. And, seriously, no one can say that a spree like that didn't feed my soul.


Now, I might consider changing my three things. I think Lydia might be onto something. I've learned, through the many years of our friendship, that you can do a lot worse than to follow that girl's lead. And, in the last analysis, when judiciously accomplished, there's actually a lot to be said for shopping, shopping, and shopping. I thank you, thank you, and thank you for reading my blog.