As I was Christmas shopping the other day

I saw this coat.

& I wanted it.

But that's not why I was there.

Could I wait until after the holidays?

Would my coat still be there?

I tried it on.

I looked carefully in the mirror.

I rolled up the sleeve

& imagined that the arms

weren't too long.

I called my friend

& described the coat over the phone to her.

She laughed & said that if I liked it

That I should buy it.

I hung up & looked at myself in the store mirror some more.

Before I knew it

A well dressed older woman

Who'd been shopping nearby

Strolled by & said...

"Honey...it looks perfect...buy it"

I laughed...because I then realized that I must have been standing there....

looking at the damn coat in the store mirror for 20 minutes.

I thanked the kind shopper lady...who laughed...

& said that she thought I needed to hear it.,.

Which made me laugh some more as I followed her to the cashier.

I think I'd still be standing there agonizing if it weren't for my shopper-stranger-friend.

Why do I always end up telling you these stories anyway?