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60 Detroit Jewish News
-
DETROIT
JEWISH NEWS
Picking A Purse
most every woman I know
is obsessed with some item
the stores have assured us
we can't do without.
My sister likes shoes. My mother
adores clothing. And I am addicted
to lipstick, perfume and especially
purses.
I'm not sure how or when this got
started, and despite lectures and
pep talks to myself ("You can
live without that bag; you
really can! Stick with it, Eliza-
beth!"), I haven't been able
to break it. The problem is, I
get it in my mind that I have
to have a purse of a certain
shape or design, and then I
can't think of anything else until I find
it. It's weird, I realize, but better than,
say, being addicted to pro-wrestling.
Fortunately, I am not alone in my
handbag angst. I own about eight
purses, which I thought was extreme
until I began asking around, in a
subtle way, of course ("I have a
friend who..."). I quickly discovered
that most women I know have at
least eight handbags — and think
nothing of it!
Ah, I am normal after all.
Several weeks ago I began want-
ing a new purse. I was looking for
something black, with several sec-
tions. It had to be lightweight and
my single consistent requirement:
large. Sometimes I see people with
purses the size of peas; what in
heaven's name can they fit in there?
I, for one, need room for not just a
wallet and pens, but the real essen-
tials like diapers, a zillion lipsticks,
a book, crayons and paper, gum,
tissues, perfume samples. (No won-
der my children love to browse
here.) So off I went, my two
youngest children in tow.
To be honest, my baby, Talya, 21
months, wasn't interested in the
whole project. But Yitz, 5, couldn't
wait to help.
"I'll find it for you!" he said as we
wandered through a veritable garden
of purses — brown, green, red and
gray ones, small and large, made of
vinyl and leather and plastic.
"How about this?" Yitz said, as
he would gleefully select one, then 1=,
another and another and another.
At last, we collected about seven
that fit my requirements. Then it was
time to get down to busi-
ness.
"Yitz, I said, holding up a
purse. "What do you
think?"
"Not really big enough,"
he answered. I put it back
on the rack.
On and on we went like that, until
we came to our favorite two. I left
the final choice up to Yitzhak.
I got a great purse out of the
morning, but I think my son got
something even more. He was
pleased that he could help me, but
especially that I had asked his opin-
ion and ultimately decided to go
with his choice. He felt important.
Like most parents, I spend a great
deal of time telling my children, and
not enough asking them. I'm glad I
had a chance that day to be
reminded of how much it means to
a child to know that what he thinks
matters. Now I'm going make more
of an effort to solicit my children's
views, and act on them whenever
possible.
Unless, of course, they encourage
me to get a tiny, tiny purse. That
would just be too much to bear. E.
(---
Elizabeth Applebaum
AppleTree Editor
_You can reach Elizabeth Applebaum
at philapple@earthlink.net or
c/o The Jewish News, 27676
Franklin Southfield, MI 48034 or at
(248) 354-6060, ext. 308.