Thoughts on a Shinto Office Armoire, from Gump's, and Suze Orman

Okay, I'm sitting here thinking that the Shinto Office Armoire in the new Gump's catalog would probably solve all my once and future problems.  Right.  It is lovely, and it looks so very invitingly elegant and supremely organizational and awfully orderly.  Things you want to be, right?  Well, things I always wanted to be.  And then I sort of begin to remember that there never has been (nor, do I finally--truly--understand, will there ever be) something I can buy that will make all of those dreams come true. And then I sort of wonder why it is that we all keep buying these things, or wishing to, which leads me to ponder how many hours women (and men) like myself spend, in their entire lifetime, thinking about/looking at the things we can buy to make our lives better.  And not buying them.  (How many hours do we spend not buying, daydreaming, supposing we should all have perfect homes unmarred by stacks or snacks or sticky-fingered people who usually happen to be under four feet tall?).  Equally alarming, perhaps, is the other thought: how many hours (and dollars) have we spent buying, and not quite figuring out that it's still not going to make all those dreams come true?  It's enough to make me want to set up my own personal hotline to Suze Orman.

It's all rather exhausting, on the whole.  A bit bewildering, also, since it prods me into admitting how much of a consumer I think I am not but I really am. 

Thank God the Shinto Office Armoire is almost $4,000 (and you have to wait 2 to 4 weeks for delivery, which always seems so long, doesn't it?  Except for the fact that it will reside in your now amazingly perfect little home office for the whole rest of your life, probably...).  Wait.  4K?  The numbers alone jolt me back into reality, and lightning fast calculations remind me that four thousand dollars is around six months' rent (give or take a few dozen burritos) for a college student (we have three in our family), or a year's tuition to a decent preschool in this area, or enough to feed a small family for many, many weeks (or months, depending on the circumstances).

Goodbye, sweet Shinto Office Armoire, and thanks for all daydreams. It was fun while it lasted.