I realize that all the youngsters are using the word to mean something different these days, but I am going to go retro now as I talk about being sick.

I haven’t been sick much in the past few years, a blessing I believe to be due to the combination of a couple of factors: not much in this world is dirtier than the streets and air of Manhattan, and I work with snotty kids who are incubators for an array of illnesses.  After an initial period of shock, my immune system decided it would be the one to kick ass in this fight, and so far it has done an amazing job.  Well played, white blood cells.

However, being IN LOOOOVE means getting less sleep (look it up on Wikipedia).  And summer pollen means heinous allergies.  And walking around in New York humidity means clamminess and lethargy.  Add it all up and you get me cruising straight past the gym and into Gristede’s for some soup and OJ.  And then to my bed and faithful window AC unit.  OK, maybe that last part happened after a brief stop at Borders to catch up on Us Weekly.

Because Mom is not here to feed me ginger ale and saltines, The Menu of the Sick Person (and a delicious one at that), I have to rely on other creature comforts.  Which works out well because today I used some of my birthday money/gift cards to engage in an activity that has been foreign to me for a few months:  SHOPPING.  Because I have a slight addiction problem, I have to watch out for triggers.  Sephora is a trigger.  I am not James Frey:  I cannot stare a glass of whiskey in the face (or in my case, a display case of eye shadow) and just walk away.  So I have abstained from even crossing the threshold of those shiny bastions of capitalism and all else that is good in this world (i.e. cosmetics, fashion, and everything else that makes people feel really great and sometimes really terrible about themselves).  I have been a shopping celibate.  But today I was spending other people’s money, so I went to town!  Specifically, Sephora and H&M.  And I am now going retro in another fashion: playing like a little girl with all my new toys.  Hence the picture above of my shiny new glosses, shadow, and powder.  What’s that?  Why yes, they ARE all sitting on top of a $19.95 faux-leather H&M handbag!   Thank you for asking!

I realize that these are turbulent, difficult economic times.  (BELIEVE ME, I do.)  But comfort, even in its smallest and seemingly most trivial forms, can be anything but small and trivial.  And since my family is down South sweltering in their own heat rather than here, I’m not ashamed of the joy these objects give me.  I believe that God’s love holds no end of tiny kindnesses, and the fact that Sephora makes a lip gloss that tastes just like Bonnie Bell Dr. Pepper Lip Smackers is one of them.  Now excuse me while I drink my OJ, read my book, and try on my makeup.