Today I bought myself a fabulous
purse. I figure that a fabulous person like me deserves to buy herself a fabulous gift every so often. And yes, I admit that I have a purse addiction. I LOVE purses. And not cheap ones for that matter. These are purses that require me to save money for a few months before I can afford to buy them. For the most part, I am quite responsible with my money. I pay my mortgage, I pay my utilities, I pay my medical/dental/vision/home owners/auto insurance, I pay off my entire credit card bill
in full every month, and I even give to charity every month. I put money away for graduate school, retirement, and whatever emergency that may or may not come up. I never spend more in one month than I make in one month. And let me tell you, that's not a lot. I work in science...not a lot of money to be made in my field of work, especially without a PhD. This means that I have to be relatively frugal. I buy off brand clothing, food, gas, etc. So why is it, then, when I decide to buy myself an extravagant/expensive/name brand purse, the whole world comes down on me and judges how I spend my money?
There's only one person on this earth who knows how much money I have. Her name is Wanda. She does my taxes. And you know what? She could care less. She's probably the only person on this earth who doesn't make judgement based on my financial status. Yet everyone else, the people who assume they know how much money I have, judge me left and right. And whether they think that I'm rich or poor, they all come to the same assumption: The Merry Widow gets money from her parents.
Well, I'm here to set the record straight. I'm an independent woman and I work hard for my money. In fact, I worked really hard all last year in order to get a well deserved promotion/raise. This is how I pay for my purse habit. My parents haven't given me money since my last year in college. (Yes, my wonderful Daddy paid for my college. He worked hard to provide me with opportunities that he didn't have. I love him for that and am more grateful than you know or care to know.) Now this doesn't mean that my parents don't buy me gifts. I am, afterall, the center of their universe (aka only child.) I fully admit that they do spoil me with nice gifts, like purses that I can't afford to buy on my own. But still, I take care of myself, pay for myself, and have yet to ask them for a dime since the day I graduated from college.
So some people say to me, in their sarcastic tone, "It must be nice that you can waste your money on retarded expensive purses. I have to actually pay for important things, like my kids." Well la-dee-fucking-da. Yes, I realize that parenting is an awesome responsibility, both financially and mentally, and I commend you for making your kids your priority. That's how it should be and more parents should care for their kids as you do. But that doesn't mean that I don't deserve to buy myself a purse. In fact, you and your kid have nothing to do with me and my purse. And no, I don't know how much formula and diapers cost. But do you know how much chemotherapy costs? How about MRI's? How about funerals, for that matter? Guess what...I do. My husband had cancer and died. Remember? All of that stuff wasn't free either.
"You know you can't take that purse with you in the afterlife, right?" Yes, genius, I know that. You must be confusing me with my dead husband, because you see, I'm alive right now so I'm gonna enjoy my purse right now, while I still have the chance. Maybe
you should spend a little more time enjoying the pleasures of life, and a little less time caring about what I buy. And then maybe, just maybe, I'll buy a purse for you too.
Labels: Yes I'm shallow...get over it
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