My Chanel Shoes: A True Story of Thrift Store Karma

Since you last heard from me, we have been in Alabama, visiting our dear daughter. We were accompanied by my mother. All this intergenerational travel is fun, but stressful. Lucy Marmalade/Miss Em was a great host, getting us tickets to the ballet Cinderella and treating us to meals.

Now we're back, with about a week of vacation ahead of us. And I am, of course, completely uninspired. So I will present a true story of thrift store karma. I was saving it for an uninspired moment.

Several years ago (5? 6?), I was, as usual, blissing out at Goodwill. I was in the check out line, with some unmemorable stuff, when the woman in front of me (not someone I'd seen before) decided to show off her finds. She had about 4 designer bags. She explained to me that they were good fakes. Then she said, "But these are real." And showed me some black Chanel loafers. They WERE real. She said, "I don't wear this size, but I got them for my grandbabies to use for dress up." I said, "What size are they?" She said, "37." "That's my size," I gasped.

That's as far as you can go with thrift store etiquette. You cannot beg for the shoes or offer to buy them or even make remarks about how it is a total waste to give children Chanel loafers to use as dress up shoes.

And, of course, this woman paid for her wares and whisked off to wherever with the shoes.

Being a masochist, I went back to Goodwill the next day. I am embarrassed to admit that I was a wee bit depressed about the shoes. Really, it's better not to know about what you missed.

I was looking through a big bin of shoes. I said to myself (sorry if this offends your religious sensibilities), "If God wanted you to have the Chanel shoes, he would have given them to you!"

Then, you guessed it, ANOTHER pair of Chanel loafers appeared, identical to the first, only in brown. I kept looking for a third pair, but none appeared.

These are, no question, the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn. No one knows they are Chanel except for me. They are plain old loafers with the crossed c's on top. Interestingly, anyone who did notice the logo would assume they were fake. That is because, with my general disarray, I just don't look like someone who would have Chanel shoes.

Not only did I get the shoes, but I got a neat story.

Do you believe me?