In September 2008, I went to visit my friend Nancy and to go to a Jackson Browne concert in Boston. The concert was great even though we arrived 15 minutes late because we couldn’t find the theater. (Just a bit of advice to the waiters at the Italian restaurant near the Orpheum Theatre… “Cross Boston Common, take a left on Tremont, and then a right near the church.”) But noooooooo… all kinds of directions later, we ended up walking up and down and all around the theater. This theater was so close to where we were, we could have jogged there (and we are not joggers). Anyway, the concert was fabulous and we soon forgot the dreaded miles we walked trying to find the theater.
The next day, Nancy and I decided to shop (what else would we do?) After many other stops, she took me to this cool place called “Building 19”. This store has all kinds of designer things for sale, but it looks more like a warehouse.
This is where I found the inspiration for the Pink Purse Project. I spotted this wonderful pink purse sitting on a hand-made 2 x 6 wooden plank shelf. It didn’t have a price tag, so I tossed it into my cart and “drove it around” (for those who are non-shopaholics, this is something shoppers do while they are thinking about their purchases). I drove the purse around for a good half hour and then decided that I didn’t need it and put it back on the shelf. When I finally found Nancy, I told her about the purse… she wanted to see it... just to help me decide if I should buy it or not. When we got back to the purse section, the purse was GONE! My heart stopped. I couldn’t believe I put the purse back and within minutes I no longer could own such a wonderful piece of leather.
We kept searching for the purse and finally, we turned the crowded corner with the shopping cart and what did we find? The PINK PURSE! It was sitting on a pile now – obviously someone else had been man-handling MY purse…. We decided to drive the purse around some more until we took it up to the cashier to find out how much it was.
When the cashier saw the pink purse she almost screamed at me “WHERE DID YOU GET THIS?” I thought, oh no, what did I do? I sheepishly answered, “ummmmm, back there in the purse section?” She responded with an “OH! Well, I was just wondering, because I was sending all of the out-of-season purses back to the manufacturers and I don’t know HOW I could have missed this one.” I didn’t want to tell her that I had been “driving” it around and that’s how she probably “missed” it.
So she told me the price – and Nancy and I looked at each other and decided I MUST have it – and I bought it. I made an instant decision that I would carry the out-of-season purse during October – for breast cancer awareness month.
It was during my four-hour trip home, that I came up with the pink purse project idea and the rest is history. The first year it was only me carrying a pink purse – and if anyone commented on what a cool purse I had, I would say, “Thank you, I am carrying it for breast cancer awareness month.”
This past October, I carried my purse again, and a few friends bought pink purses to carry one too. I made a website: www.pinkpurseproject.com where I could share information, sell items, and raise money for my Making Strides Against Breast Cancer team. Next year, more will be added to the site – and I will attempt to maintain this blog all year long.
So… now you’re wondering, “What does Jackson Browne have to do with the Pink Purse Project?” Well… I guess, not too much, but if I hadn’t gone out to visit Nancy and see his concert, I wouldn’t have been in Boston, and I wouldn’t have been shopping at Building 19, AND, I wouldn’t have found THE pink purse.
Thanks Nancy for being a great friend, thanks Jackson for a great concert, and thanks to the cashier who helped make my decision to buy the pink purse!
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