Don’t Touch the COACH!

My best friend has a lot of great qualities. She is driven, intelligent, generous, funny (though not as funny as me) and wise. Shauntay is one of those who became an adult at a very young age. Money was tight as a kid and as a young adult she often found herself needing to help her mother financially. No complaints. Every part of life has been a learning and character building experience for her.

Because Shauntay learned about being responsible so young, she is just about as far from frivolous as you can get. For years she wore the same clothes, drove the same car and lived in a tiny apartment in a less expensive area of town. Throwing money away wasn’t an option. Spending money still does not come easily for her. You can almost see beads of sweat forming above her brow when the time comes to open the wallet. Everything is a negotiation…from hair to car repairs. That said, Shauntay does have one weakness, her Coach purse.

It’s such a contrast to see this woman, who loves to shop at the Dollar Store, proudly toting around her pretty little Coach baby. And just as Shauntay expects respect from others, she demands respect of her purse too. I once made the terrible mistake of moving her Coach from the passenger seat of her car to the floor. With a raised eyebrow, she was quick to inform me ‘the Coach’ needed to be returned immediately to its rightful place on the seat. There was no way she was going to risk subjecting her precious indulgence to the kick of a foot. And the thought of her prized possession coming into contact with dirt was simply too much to bear.

Shauntay’s infatuation with her purse has earned her plenty of teasing from me. I do have a confession to make, however. In truth, the attention and care she gives that purse makes me admire her all the more. She’s not one who has showered herself with so many ‘treasures’ that they are no longer special to her. The pleasure she gets from that one purse is likely more than what Paris Hilton feels for her closets of purses, shoes and cell phones. She doesn’t need to have stacks of things and rooms of trinkets to bring a smile to her face. She has put taking care of herself and her family in front of the short lived satisfaction of possessions. She has preserved her ability to find joy and appreciation in one special ‘thing’.

The ironic part of this whole story is that Shauntay is my Coach purse. It used to bother me that I had one ‘best friend’ in my life. So many others seemed to be dripping in friends. I consider myself a nice person who is easy to get along with. For some reason, I’ve never been much of a ‘friend’ magnet. Shauntay and I have known each other for 10 years now and we’ve gone through a lot together. Just like her purse, if anyone ever attempted to throw dirt on her or question her rightful place, I’d raise an eyebrow and quickly insert my opinion on the matter. She is unique and to be treasured. I haven’t amassed so many people in my life that replacing her would be trivial. The only downside is, unlike a purse, she occasionally talks back and throws fits. Hmmmm, maybe she’s on to something with this Coach thing?

I love and admire you Shauntay. Your my best friend and have finally received your rightful place on my blog. And it has nothing to do with you CONSTANTLY nagging me on why I hadn’t mentioned you yet. Nope. Nothing at all. For those who are interested, Shauntay’s picture is on my ‘Meet the Blogger’ page. Too bad I don’t have a picture of her Coach baby.

4 Responses to “Don’t Touch the COACH!”

  1. reeveslady says:

    What a lovely tribute!

  2. Hmm. COACH. This is a long story, but I’ll try to shorten it. I used to be the independent sales rep in Hawaii for World Book. Yes, selling encyclopedias… not door to door but to schools, and selling their online database product to school libraries and the DOE. Well I miraculously brought in a huge contract for the company, the entire state of Hawaii public school system. Almost as soon as the ink was dry on this big DEAL (no other Hawaii rep or any WB rep for that matter) had done such a thing…my west coast sales manager sent me a termination letter. She wanted to steal the new Hawaii account and its renewals (guaranteed commissions in the thousands for years to come) for herself and her pet sales rep in California. It was probably illegal, but I could not go after World Book and its legions of lawyers. I was devastated to lose my position and the account….

    but the reason I even think of this story while reading your post is that SHE (Sara, the beastly one) had a Coach handbag addiction too!! I can’t even walk by a Coach store without tasting the bile well up in my mouth. I’m certainly glad your best friend is NO SARA! 😉

    P.S. For what it’s worth I have a Fossil bag addiction!

  3. lisa says:

    Kris, sounds like you set her up with plenty of Coach income. That totally stinks!

    Hmmmm, Fossil bags? I’ll have to check them out.

  4. She has since got her comeuppance. World Book dumped her… and actually the story ends well, as I got back at her with the old success-is-the-best revenge tack. I started working for Britannica and got that state contract away from her as they picked up Britannica and dumped World Book. Now Britannica has it locked in, but they recently let all their sales reps go. Blimey. I’m running out of encyclopedia companies!

    But yes, Sara=Coach. Coach=Sara.