Being all grown up with a job and money was great until the first time I bought a pair of kakhis. Not that I had not purchased my own clothing before, but what I had bought was like stuff from a thrift store or whatever. Never had I paid my own money for something as mundane as kakhis. They seemed kind of expensive.
So I developed a bit of a grudge about the whole thing. I’d buy cheap stuff or stuff from the thrift store. Which is fine except that I looked cheap and I felt cheap. Sometimes I don’t mind that either, but there are some situations that require me to look decent. Despite Fernando’s assertion that it is better to look good than to feel good, I want to look AND feel good.
So that means spending a little dough. Again, this I am loath to do, but right before we got married, my sweet lady talked me into buying a full priced pair of dress shoes. Not Ferragamos but Florsheims. They are still good looking shoes a decade later, and they have been fully amatorized. I thought of those shoes as I stood in front of the blue blazers this afternoon.
See, my blazer has gotten a bit raggedy. One pocket is torn and the whole thing is just a little beat. I don’t know how long I have had it, but I did get it from a thrift store. For a guy like me, a blazer is something you have a relationship with. It makes you look good even when you’ve left it in the back of the car for a week. I felt a little bit like I was betraying my old blazer.
I also felt like I was about to unload a chunk of change on a piece of clothing. Good fortune smiled on me, however, when I drew down from the rack a 100% wool jacket with a steep discount. 40 regular too, in which I was proud to fit. But it did not quite sit right. No worries. I found another that was a 42. It would work. Be servicable. But what about that other one up there?
A little tighter weave on the cloth. A hair narrower in the lapel. Buttons shiny just so. It would be a shame not to at least try it on, right. (We call this literary device foreshadowing.) I did, indeed, buy the more expensive jacket. It is better to look good than to save for retirement.