a true story about coach purses and cat ladies

To call my sister a cat lady would be a vast understatement. I'm not sure that any 25-year-old woman ever, in the history of the world, has loved her cats (and dog) with as much passion as my sister. Only she manages to do it in a very cool way-- Sarah's a very hip, outgoing girl...so her cat-lady-ness is merely a funky and endearing part of her personality. But she makes no secret of it. If you're Facebook friends with my sister, you'd better prepare yourself for nonstop photo-documentation of her pets (cats Elroy and Cletis and dog Otis). 

So anyway. Sarah's always looking for bigger and better ways to express her love of her kids, so this weekend when we were shopping and I happened to notice these huge, gaudy, ridiculous cat purses on a rack at a shoe store, I jokingly grabbed one with two cats on it and shouted "SARAH!! Look!!! A purse with Elroy and Cletis!!!"

She nearly lost her mind.

Her unadulterated passion for this purse was immediate and loud. "OH MY GOSSSSHHHHHH!!!! LOOOOOOOK!!!! IT'S CLETEY AND ELROY!!!! It's so bright!! They're so cute!! Everyone will ask about my cats!!!! It's big enough for my iPad!!! I can keep Otis's toys in it!!!! I looooooooooove it!!!!"

She immediately pranced around the store, demonstrating the many excellent features of the purse and admiring how skinny it made her look (not hard- she is already skinny and gorgeous to start with).

And then she made this bold, bold statement, as she tossed her current handbag to the floor with an eye roll of disgust:

"Coach is out. Cats are in."

This is the bag she had been using. A lovely shiny gold Coach tote...roomy on the inside, buttery soft leather, plenty of pockets, large enough for an iPad (not that I have one), a zipper on the top...I'd been admiring it all weekend.

So if Coach is out and cats are in, then.....?????

"Take it. It's yours."

As soon as we were back in the car (she was driving) I was instructed to take everything out of her old purse, organize it (apparently my reputation precedes me), and load it into the new purse. As a reward for my duty, she let me keep the old purse as a token. Just like that. My personal collection of Coach purses just doubled.

And this is the true story of how I got a new purse this weekend. And a few hours after I inherited the purse, I got my new haircut. Not to brag, but don't you wish you had a sister like me?

And now not to be a downer, but you may recall that Sarah's husband is currently deployed. Yesterday he sent some really sad news our way. I'm guessing you can guess what kind of sad news comes from a deployed soldier. Sarah is so strong-- we're incredibly thankful her husband is safe, but getting that kind of news just serves as an unwanted reminder about what he's really doing over there and what the risks are. If you have a minute, would you pray for the safety of our troops? As Sarah laments, "people in the States are 'over' this war, but the fact is that it isn't, and the soldiers that are over there are in an incredibly dangerous situation and still need the support and prayers of their country." So anyway. Show a cat lady some love and say a prayer for her husband, will you?

And remember: Coach is out, cats are in. But since I'm okay with being unfashionable, if you find yourself needing to get rid of some 'out' Coach, send it my way.