Ignorance is bliss, I say!

Last night, I attended a friend's wedding as a guest.  So I dressed in my finest clothes to celebrate his nuptials.  It was great to see the happy couple enjoying their day.  During the cocktail hour, another guest inadvertently stepped on my Bruno Maglis.  My initial reaction was entirely a consequence of my current lifestyle.

Now, I'm not a shoe aficionado, but when I was younger and in better financial times, I splurged on a pair to go with my tuxedo.  If you're not familiar with this brand, suffice to say that these are very comfortable shoes.  Comfortable attractive handmade designer leather shoes from Italy.


I sucked in a breath and barely suppressed my urge to go postal on this guest who had walked away unaware of their misdeed.  I looked down at the scuff on my shoe and stared at it.  I stared at it and wondered when I cared so much about material things that a scuff I would likely buff out before the next time I wore them would get me so upset.

Where did the carefree attitude that cared little about these earthly things that would wear away long before I'm gone?  As my personal finances have gotten worse, I've become so sensitive to how I spend my money that I am upset when anything sets me back even a few dollars.  How did it come to this?

I have no real answer except that it could only be in small tiny offenses that I let get to me as I began to become more fiscally responsible about how I spend my money.  Ten years ago, I couldn't tell you where my money went after doing my taxes.  Now, I know where every penny goes and I balance it against my checking account and my income statement.  And I can tell I am certainly less happy now that I know.

Dare I say it?  Perhaps in this case, ignorance was bliss.  And once aware, I can no longer claim ignorance.  Oh, unhappy day.