She's a shopper

Brenda likes bike shops.  She went a lot of years without ever setting foot in one, but now they’re one of her favorite things.  We were in Gainesville recently, and one of the things she wanted to be sure to do was check out the bike shops there (because she’s been through all the ones around here). 

This is one of those areas where Brenda and I fully embody the “opposites attract” theory of mating.  I believe I’ve gone for years at a time without every buying a single thing.  I can go into a store to buy something, see 37 other things that they sell too, get overwhelmed, and walk out without buying the one thing I wanted in the first place.  When Brenda goes into a store, she’ll not only get the thing she went in for, but most of the other 37 things they sell too.  (And she keeps the rest of those things in the back of her mind as placeholders for the next time she sees them.)  

Now it’s true that if you want to ride early in the morning or after work during this time of year, you could well be out there in that time when it’s still a little (or almost) dark.  And that being the case, it’s a good thing to have a light (or several lights) on your bike.  Well I’ve usually made it a point to not be out there in that near-dark time, so I’ve never really made it a point to have a light (never mind several lights) on my bike.  But when Brenda went into one of those Gainesville bike shops they had a really good deal on a really good light.  And of course, that’s the thing, isn’t it?  If it was just an average deal on a really good light, or a really good deal on an average light, that’d be intriguing, but it wouldn’t really make it a must-have.  But when you get a really good deal on a really good light, well, who could resist that, right?  (I mean, besides me, of course.) 

So now Brenda has this really good light on her bike.  (And no, it’s not the way I would have done it, but I love her enough that I’m sure not going to let something as little as a bike light get in the way.)  And once she’s gotten a really good deal on something, you know what the next challenge is?  To check and see if she could’ve gotten as good a deal around here, of course.  So the next time she was in one of our bike shops she checked, and sure enough—the deal was there to be had!  So now I’ve got this really good light on my bike…  (wonder if I’ll ever use it…)