The Blue One in the Window

Hallberg's has a big sale after New Year, and this year I got there on the last day. Two jackets were left in my size.

The first one was blue, from a brand I've wanted since high school. Warm, light, with a hood you could actually pull over a hat. The second was gray, from a brand I'd never heard of. It was fine. That's the honest word for it: fine.

Then I looked at the tags. The gray one was forty-five dollars. The blue one was double that, even with the sale price. The woman at the register saw me standing there with both and told me the blue one was the better deal, because a jacket like that lasts ten winters.

She's probably right. But the contrast that mattered wasn't between the two jackets. It was between ninety dollars and the number in my banking app, and my decision was based on the second one.

So I bought the gray jacket. It's warm. It has no hood, but it has deep pockets, and in January I mostly want deep pockets.

I walk past Hallberg's on my way to work. The blue one is still in the window, and I still look at it every morning.