impulse buying

my nonna died when i was five or maybe six ... my parents had to borrow the money to pay for her funeral and burial ... they decided that would not happen to their own family, and bought a funeral and burial plan ... my mother would buy a money order every month and send it off to Olinger to prepay for their eventual demise...  

i know that i was just a little kid, but i remember thinking

what an unselfish thing to do for the people who love you...

fast forward to this time last year... 

i had a couple of life-threatening experiences that some of you already know about and realized that i had never taken care of my own Final Arrangements; but i wasn't well enough to do anything about it at the time...

and by the time my health crises were beaten to submission resolved, i was too weary to act...

fast forward to now...

i have noticed that my children are attending a LOT of funerals for their friends' parents...

 and that those parents are my own peers...

and i made an appointment to Take Care of Business...

it was not fun...

but it was enlightening...

it turns out that there is a LOT of UPSELLING in the funeral business...

i went into the meeting determined to NOT opt for anything other than basic cremation - no urn, no catering, no memorial, no viewing, no service, no flowers, no creative financing that includes a life insurance policy should i decide to keel over before the Plan is paid for, no, no, no, thank you...

it took a while to convince the salesperson that

 no, i do NOT want fries with that...

i took out my credit card so i could get the Rewards points, and prepaid for making an Ash of Myself...

and when i was finished with all of that, Auntia and i went to Woodley's Fine Furniture to order a dresser for her room... 

it was NOT an impulse buy - she has been planning her purchase since last year's 45% off sale, and knew exactly what she wanted...

and we did what we always do when we walk into a furniture store - we sat in every comfortable-looking chair and sat on every comfortable-looking couch and played Lightbrownielocks and Silverlocks... 

this one is too high 

this one is too low

this one is too soft 

this one is too hard

this one's arms are too wide

this one's seat is too deep

this one is butt ugly

this one is too fancy

this one is too scratchy

this one is too slick

this one isn't made for stitching

this one isn't made for reading

this one is just about right

this one is too ... wait ... what?!?

what?!?

what you said...

try this one - it isn't ugly and it isn't fancy and it's the right height for both of us and the arms are just right for stitching or reading and it's leather so it will wipe clean and it isn't scratchy or slick and your feet reach the floor and my knees aren't up around my chin and it's just the right amount of firm...

but it's red...

yes, it IS red. but it comes in these other colors...

Cara the Chair is red...

an old picture of Cara the Chair - named after Cara the Mord Sith from Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series of books

Cara the Chair was an impulse buy and nothing goes with her...

but this couch would go with her...

and we were gonna wait till the little ones are all in school before we buy a couch...

that's Three. More. Years.

three years of arguing with them about what is okay and what isn't...

and we will teach them what is and isn't acceptable...

but it's red...

our sunflower pillows would look awesome on it...

but it's red...

it's 45% off...

still, it's a LOT of money...

and Awesome!!! would look awesome on it...

Awesome!!! WOULD look awesome on it ... maybe it's time to rethink the living room...

let's go home so we can bring back the sunflower pillow and an autumn quilt and see how they look...

still ... it's a lot of money...

and so we did...

the quilt looked awesome...

the sunflower pillow looked awesome...

but i still wasn't convinced...

Clifford was gonna be a HUGE investment, even with 45% off...

and i'd just spent all that money on the prepaid cremation...

and that got me to thinking which is always kinda scary...

thinking about things like Life being Short...

and Uncertain...

and the fact that there was no Comfortable Place to Rest in the Here and Now...

and the fact that my body isn't gonna have a Comfortable Place to Rest in the After because i'd opted for the No Frills Package...

and Comfort being Under-Rated...

and Jumping In With Both Feet being kinda fun...

and that is how buying a Big Red Couch can be an Impulse Buy...

To be always intending to make a new and better life but never to find time to set about it is as ... to put off eating and drinking and sleeping from one day to the next until you're dead.

Og Mandino