Courage

I was courageous yesterday. I walked away. I trusted my gut.

Yesterday, after mass (that's another post, OK?), I stopped by the local Goodwill to drop off some donations that I had organized and packed my trunk with earlier in the day. I pat myself on the back for remembering both to pack the car and to actually get to the Goodwill.

While there, well, someone pulled out of a perfect parking spot right in front of me. How could I not stop in? Besides, it's the holiday season, there might be some fun decorations. So, I did it, I went in.

I browsed for a while. Pink tags were marked 50% off, tempting. I tried on some shoes (nothing there that was more comfortable than the ones I was wearing, but there was this pair of cute heels...too big, but still...). I found 7 or 8 books, for me and for older daughter, who is just tearing through books at a reckless pace. Found a puzzle, Ravensburger, the good ones. Those are almost impossible to pass up and they're very expensive new, close to $10. To find one with all the pieces for a buck, well.

I finally finished, needing to get home and arrange dinner. There were only two cashiers checking out, and one was searching for a DVD for a customer. They keep them in a binder, to cut down on theft. Slow lines. The other cashier called over the next customer, who was two people ahead of me. Still slow. I switched lines, just as the woman ahead of me told the cashier she wanted to buy a piece of furniture. Off they went to the back. The lines had built up behind me. I questioned myself, did I really need these things? I browsed through the books again, looked at the puzzle. I carefully, slowly set the basket down. Stood up straight. And walked out the door to my car.

I breathed deeply as I left the store. And only regretted that it had taken me so long to make the decision to leave.
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Here's a picture of two more bags of donations I sorted out this morning. They'll go tomorrow.