Wednesday, August 15, 2012

The Purple Velvet Armchair


An early morning flight last week necessitated a trip to Starbucks at LAX.  I'm not a big consumer of Starbucks. I probably only drink one or two cups per year. 

I was planning to buy the cup of coffee and return to the gate and wait for my flight.  I bought the coffee, looked around.  An oasis of purple velvet flooded my peripheral vision.  Three purple velvet chairs were in the corner.  One was vacant and called my name.  Yum.  To sit in/on velvet is a luxury. 

The chair was big; wide and tall.  Almost a loveseat.  As I wheeled my carry on suitcase over and sat down with an "ahhhh",  I noticed that the other two chairs were occupied by women about my age.  The purple velvet must appeal to our socio-economic group.  Or, maybe no one else is dumb enough to be at the airport that early.

I spent an hour in that chair, luxuriating in the comfort, security and calm that it provided.




Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Shopping At Goodwill

I had seven huge, heavy bags in my trunk.  A delivery to the Goodwill.

The closet clean out was a success and Goodwill received the proceeds. 

I packed the bags into my trunk this morning.  Packed is the right word, my trunk was overflowing.

There is a new Goodwill near our house.  I dropped by after the gym.  I didn't realize that the drop off point was around in the back so I walked into a Goodwill store.  There were no employees (is this the right word or are they volunteers?) available so I walked from the front to the back of the store.

The store was very tidy, well-lit, quite inviting.

I finally found a man who informed me that I had to drive to the back to drop off my bags.

On the way out the door, the racks of clothes called my name.  The clothes are organized by type (jackets, shirts, pants) and then sub-categorized by color.  So, all black jeans are together.  This is different from a normal store where you search the racks for your size.  Here you have to search by type, then color then hope to find your size. I guess it makes sense, but it's not as easy as a normal store.

I browsed several racks before the thought rocketed through my brain, "What are you doing?  You just cleaned out all your closets and drawers.  There are seven bags in the trunk of your car.  You don't need more stuff..."

The voice won.  I got in my car, delivered the bags and was on my way, empty-handed.