The Dress

I bought a dress. [pause for surprise] It’s true, so compose yourself. It happened on Friday. Jochem and I were downtown to do our usual grocery shopping. I had to go to the H&M to buy the absolute cheapest new shirt to sleep in, since my usual model was beyond dirty and couldn’t possibly be worn any longer, to the point where I was ashamed to wear it front of anyone other than the boyfriend, the cats and the fish (because who wants to casually be asked why you have stains on your boobs by one’s own mother (you may wonder why I have stains on my boobs in the first place, but that’s what happens when a certain person stays in one’s pajamas all day and ends up cooking in said pajamas, which causes stains in said, white (of course), shirt, which wouldn’t be any problem in an ordinary world, but in my world means that when I try to remove said stains, it only gets worse. I don’t iron for the same reason.)). Damn, that was a long sentence. Anyway, the fact that I bought anything, let alone a dress, is pretty much a miracle, since I hate shopping. That’s right. I’m not a girly girl, I don’t like to wear make-up, and I don’t like shopping, unless, of course, it means shopping for food in small delis or shopping for camp gear for any upcoming trip. The truth is, shopping has become a luxury for me due to all the saving up for the world trip. I have a great mom who is nice enough to buy me a few pieces each season and who often gives me her hand-me-downs, but most of my clothes I’ve had for years. I have wholes in my jeans but I don’t buy new ones, but instead ask my mom to sew them up. Sometimes it can be quite frustrating, like when you, literally, have nothing to wear to an event, but at the same time I’ve gotten quite used to it. My mom says this is because I’m cheap, which is probably true, since I discovered a while ago that me working multiple jobs + Jochem working multiple jobs + us saving basically every penny = a lot of money in the bank (you know, the kind of Math I can do). So these days, anything above a few euros is a lot of money for me. I’m not an impulse buyer, but always think everything through at least three times. For example, on the same day I bought the dress, I decided not to buy a cute top that was on sale for €3,95 because, well, I already have so many tops. The dress, however, cost a fortune. That may not say much where I come from, but it was a dress from a store where I usually don’t even look inside, so go figure. We just happened to pass it on our way back from the H&M. I looked to my left, saw the dress, and had to see it up close. This is usually how I shop. It means I never have the urge to just go and buy anything, but it also means that once I have my eye on something, I almost always end up buying it, even though it’s really too expensive. But so, we went inside and looked at the dress, which looked even cuter up close, and I decided to try it on (a miracle in itself, since I absolutely detest getting changed in stores). I tried on two sizes, walked around for about 20 minutes, even let Jochem call my mom for a second opinion, and finally bought it. Now tell me: what it worth the trouble?