purses, shoes, and other thoughts

I have realized this week that I will never be on any best dressed lists.  I had to buy a pair of shoes this week and I am going to a purse party today.  I have always known that fashion is very low on the list when I am buying clothing, shoes, and purses.  The things that rank higher on my list are: utility, longevity, versatility, comfort, quality, and then fashion.  I have been looking for a pair of black shoes for about 3 months, but have just now bought a pair and I will probably wear them until they are falling apart.  It takes me an just as long to find a purse I like, if not longer.  The purse I am currently carrying, I have had since Bella was a baby (or maybe even before she was born) and she just turned 4.  The seams are starting to come loose a little, but it is still in pretty good shape (that is because quality trumps fashion on my list).  I have a lot of requirements for purses.  This is just a short list: it has to have several pockets or separations inside, so I can organize, it has to be big enough to throw my bible and tablet in for church or juice boxes and a snack, toys or whatever else I need for a trip out with the kids, but not be big and heavy when I am not acting as a pack mule; I prefer it not to be too frumpy, so that all the stuff stays in its place inside, instead of all ending up in a pile at the bottom; it has to be go as well with jeans as it does with dress clothes; it has to be good quality leather, since I keep it so long; it can't be too trendy looking, because I will be keeping it for a while.  There are other things too, but these are my top requirements.  Recently, my physical therapist told me that I should get a side sling or messenger style purse to relieve the weight on my neck muscle that has a tendency to get strained and pulled.  So now I have yet another requirement.  Needless to say, I have been in search for a purse for a few months.  I hope that maybe today I will find one at this purse party, so that's why I'm going.  If I don't find "the one" I won't buy anything.  I was invited to a purse party in the summer by a person at the gym and I told the person who invited me that I wasn't much of a purse party and that I have carried the same purse for several years.  She looked at me like I had grown an extra head.  Her eyes got big and said, "You have carried the same purse for several years!"  You would have thought that I had told her that I have worn the same pair of underwear that long!
But last night as I was thinking about shopping and being trendy, I thought about how unimportant it all seemed in light of the earthquakes in Haiti.  And the earthquakes have just served as a reminder to all of the poverty circumstances that are always in that country.  It is too bad that it takes major tragedy for us in America to pay attention to those who live in desperate circumstances every day and don't have the luxury to have a list of requirements when buying a pair of shoes.  I am pretty familiar with what poverty looks like through my work with Compassion and, yet, I still often get caught up in being trendy or wanting the next best thing.