Shoes

I think some of the people I work with think I have an excessive amount of shoes. I was showing my collection to one of my co-workers and I pointed out my Prada's. He blanched.

"They cost way less than a thousand dollars," I said. I am sure he thinks I am a princess. I am not a princess, by the way. I am a queen. Claire-Adele is a princess. I took a feminine archetype class where we learned princesses are women with little to no real responsibity, nothing to look after like kids or pets. Motherhood is the next phase. Women who survive motherhood become queens.

I digress.

They are probably right--I probably do have too many shoes and I have probably spent more money on shoes this year than I did on rent my first year out of college. (I just did the math and its not even close. I spent more on rent.)

So why? Why do I am I spending so much money on shoes? Why?

First, I used to not be like this. Really. My financial hero is my friend Carla who saves so much money. She bakes hew own hamburger buns, paid cash for her house. She wears old, not fancy clothes but has traveled (and travels) all over the world. Whenever I think of money, I ask myself, "What would Carla do?"

Carla would not own a pair of Prada red velvet shoes. So why do I?

A few years ago, Jack worked too much. It was intolerable. If the shit hit the fan and our marriage imploded, Jack would probably marry some chick in her thirties who didn't have kids and wouldn't care how much he worked. The chicky would get half of the nest egg I spent twenty years saving, which would piss me off.

How do I know this? I've seen several divorced guys in their mid- to late-forties get remarried to younger women. The new women don't have kids, so the new couple has time to take awesome vacations and decorate their new home.

Basically, I didn't want Jack's next wife to spend my money on Prada shoes and trips to Paris, so I decided to buy Prada shoes and take vacations myself.