Harmless Obsessions

Last summer, my husband came down with a bad case of pool-envy. One of our friends has a lovely pool, and we always imagined how fabulous it would be to have one of our own. Most of our friends bought boats last year, but that's not our style. Lounging by a pool pretending to watch our kids swim is much more conducive to our sense of selves.

The problem is we really can't afford a pool right now. Our children are sucking the money right our of our pockets, and whatever is left I use to buy shoes and handbags. In an act of desperation (and insanity), Mike made an outline of a pool using about 5 bricks in our backyard. Sometimes he would stand on our deck and stare, teary-eyed at his pool (aka bricks). I would watch him as he carefully mowed around the bricks. Delusionally, he would show his friends where his pool would go if he could ever afford to build it. If he had handed them shovels perhaps we would have had one by now.

Now that it's winter, Mike has switched his obsession to a 52 inch, widescreen TV. He goes to Best Buy once a week and stares at his chosen one, longingly. It's really so pathetic. All the salesmen know him. Yesterday, during his weekly visit, he was overjoyed to see that his TV of choice went down $400 in price. Super! It just needs to drop $3000 more and Mikey can bring home his monster television. Until then, he can always stare at his bricks for his viewing pleasure.