Non-Buyer's Remorse

I like to shop. A lot. I don't think this is a big secret to most of you, especially since anyone who's ever visited here even briefly has probably noticed my shoe obsession.

I am not a person who experiences buyer's remorse. This isn't to say that there haven't been items purchased that have turned out to be less than anticipated, because there definitely have been. Dresses that didn't fit as well as I first thought, shoes that weren't as comfortable, purses that weren't as functional - I've been through all of it. It's just that these are the kinds of things I just shrug off. I think, "Oh well, I'll just buy something else instead," and I give the offending item to charity. It doesn't bother me.

I also don't experience what I think of as "non-buyer's remorse." I know it's hard for you all to imagine, but I do sometimes exercise restraint and leave things in the store. There are times when I can be honest and say, "I don't really need another pair of shoes, and I won't really wear those often enough to justify buying them." And I leave them in the store. Over the next day or two, I might think of them once or twice, but pretty quickly they're forgotten. I didn't need them, I didn't buy them, and I don't think of them after that.

Well, I had my first experience of non-buyer's remorse. Remember way back in January, when I went shopping with Reda? I found the most adorable pair of Keds, with llamas on them, but the store didn't have them in my size. "Fine," I thought, "I don't really need shoes with llamas on them anyway." And then?

I thought about them for ten months straight.

From January to October, I wished I had those damned llama shoes, because llamas? On shoes? How cute is that? It's so adorably random! They haunted me, those shoes. For Ten. Straight. Months.

Eventually, I realized that the peace of mind alone was worth the price of the shoes, because I wanted to just stop obsessing over the fact that I didn't own them. So I went to the Keds website to finally order my llama shoes, and...

THEY WERE NO LONGER IN STOCK!

Yes, that's right, they were gone. I could look ahead and see years of regretting the loss of the wonderful llama shoes. On my deathbed I would acknowledge that my one wish was that I would have bought the llama shoes when I had the chance, and my children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren would all look around and say, "Llama shoes? What is she talking about?" And I would die quietly, while my last whispered "Llamas..." echoed on the air, like my personal version of "Rosebud..."

But then a friend pointed out there there were myriad other online shoe store options that probably carried the llama shoes, and within minutes, I found them in my size and began to breathe again. And now?

As Aly would say: "Squee!"

That's right, folks. I am the prouder owner (and wearer!) of llama shoes. And let me say that they are everything I had hoped for and more. They are comfortable and cute - the best combination you can hope for from shoes.

So, are you a "buyer's remorse" sort of person? Have you ever experienced "non-buyer's remorse"? Or am I the only crazy one around here?