In Honor of the Burberry Hat that Never Was (Mine)

I was once at the Short Hills mall and in Bloomingdale's and lusted over one particular Burberry hat (You know how I am about my winter accessories). While Burberry apparel is in no way ordinary, this particular hat superseded the extra-ordinariness of even Burberry. It deviated from the standard print. The exactness of this deviation I could not share, because I chickened out over the seemingly, at the time, high price of this perfect little winter hat. I can tell you it had a lime green stripe in place of another color. I love my greens, if only in color.

I spent countless hours, weeks and months later on ebay looking for that perfect hat. My mother spent countless hours, too, looking for this hat on ebay and other outlets. Never to be found again, I still regret not buying that hat. It was above my regular purchasing range, but in retrospect, it wasn't outrageous. This, most likely, was a Burberry hat made for Bloomingdale's exclusively.

So, why is this relevant?

This past Monday I was in Macy's in Herald Square. I absolutely hate the 34th Street area, but found myself there for a "free" clinque makeover (are they ever really free?). As I made my way over to the clinique counter, a certain Ralph Lauren display caught my eye. Deep green. Plum purple stripe. Houndstooth. OMG, I love you, bag. I think I even said, "I want to take you home with me." There was a smaller version and a larger version. Smaller $75, larger $88. Not completely outrageous, actually OK. I wouldn't normally spend that much, but when you fall in love at first sight with an inanimate object and it's not terribly expensive, dive in, right? Well, let's just say we're waiting until the direct deposit drops, the automatic payment of the cc clears and then we're buying non-necessities again. ETA: September 6. Thursday. Now, aforementioned Monday was August 27. This is a long time to wait. To clarify, I am again lusting over designer apparel, this time a deep olive green houndstooth tote bag with plum stripe.

You're still asking, why is this relevant?

This past Sunday, I somehow found myself again at aforementioned Macy's. I can't account for how I got there, but when I arrived at the Ralph Lauren display where I first met the bag on Monday, it was gone! My heart began to race. I looked frantically from left to right and it was gone! I suddenly thought back to the burberry hat and my heart sank. I took a deep breath and politely made my way to the closest register only to ask the nearest sales girl: Do you still have the green and purple Ralph Lauren bags? Over there!!! She pointed to somewhere else. I had no idea where she pointed but breathed a heavy sigh of relief in that they still existed.

I walked over there, which really was aimless until I found another Ralph Lauren display and there they were. In all their glory, they were beautifully displayed alongside a similar khaki-colored bag. Small and large. Same price, but hardly as lovely. I mulled over the bag. Buy now? Wait? September 6 I kept reminding myself. I really shouldn't, but what if they're gone by then? I mulled further and finally asked the closest saleswoman, Are these bags going fast? She told me she herself had sold three since they had moved to this part of the store. That didn't seem like a large number to me, but who even knows.

I went to other parts of the store, tried other things on, and bought nothing. I didn't walk past the bag again. Fortunately I have no time between now and September 6 to make an appearance again at Macy's. Hopefully a positive outcome will result, if only to uphold honor for the Burberry hat that never was mine.