Living Like No One Else…and ashamed of it?

Remember my love affair with Christian Louboutin?

Alas, I still haven’t acquired my dream shoe.

But I have been on the lookout for nude high heels.  Young ones, not the ugly brown leathery 1-inch ones your grandma wears.  Specifically, these nude heels.

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They are from my favorite brand of shoes ever, in the entire universe-LK Bennett.  Unfortunately, they’re from London.  And they are $275. 

(Side note, if you love shoes, just go peruse their website.  I seriously want almost every shoe on there.)

I have the money.  We’re debt free.  (Other than our mortgage, just to clarify.)  I work hard and to be honest, I can afford them. 

But I still couldn’t quite justify buying them.  “That’s groceries for two weeks.  What if something else comes up?  What will people think if I spend $275 on shoes?” 

I went round and round in my head for weeks over these shoes trying to decide whether to buy them.  That is, until the newest member of the royal family decided to wear them – hence they sold out, instantly.  I’m disappointed, but a tiny bit relieved at no longer having the option of buying them. 

But really the question was for me was when is it ok to splurge and be proud of it?

I have never had a designer handbag.  Ever.  There are 13 years olds that I know with a collection that rivals Lindsay Lohan’s.

But this weekend, my husband took me to buy my first designer purse.  (He even offered to buy me two!  Which, then I rushed him to the nearest ER because I was sure he was having a stroke!)

I was so happy.  And am still.  But I really wrestled with the decision to post it on Facebook.  (Stupid, social media.) 

I have friends who are working feverishly trying to pay off debt and don’t want to rub it in their faces.  I have friends who work very hard in Christian service and may never be able to afford a designer bag.  I have friends out of a job.  And then I have the “friends” who will run it down just because.

(And I have to admit, it felt odd carrying a designer purse and paying with a huge stack of coupons.  But I quickly got over that – that’s how I earned that purse!)

Somehow, when our husbands get a new $500 handgun, his buddies “ooh” and “ahh” over it.  But when we spend $275 on shoes, our girlfriends will say it was ridiculous and snipe about it behind our backs.

And then I go back to why I even care? 

I feel like I’m on a merry go round…

You know, these merry go rounds that we rode till we were sick and probably would’ve given us Hep B if we had gotten cut or something?  They were great.  Stupid plastic “safe” toys now…

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A pretty smart man has this saying, “Live like no one else, so you can live like no one else.”  Well, I’ve done that. 

So how long before I can be proud that I’m living like no one else so that I can live like no one else??