by Carol Nissenbaum

Created on: November 07, 2008

I think that Coach handbags are definitely worth the money. I had lusted after one for years, and never had the means to buy one. I think they are beautiful and very elegant; when I saw someone carrying one I got a pang of envy. There were many knock-offs available, at pocketbook parties, flea markets, and in the islands on my recent cruise, but somehow I just didn't want to carry an imitation. Even if I "got away" with it, deep down I would still know that it wasn't the real thing, and that would bother me. Plus, unfortunately I can spot a fake from a mile away. So, no knock-offs for me.

I had various other handbags by designers like Kenneth Cole, Kathy van Zeeland, and Perlina, that were lovely and serviceable, but inevitably would wear out after a few months. I just couldn't find 'the bag' that would last more than six months or that I would even want to carry that long. I had a bag by Liz Claiborne that featured dogs and cats in an adorable beaded and sequin pattern. That bag was such a conversation piece that when it wore out I actually ordered its twin on eBay! Soon the beads and sequins fell off and that bag ended up in the garbage. A LeSportsac followed, but it was just ho-hum. I still had Coach lust in my heart!

Then, a couple of years ago, my then-middle-school-age daughter began panting after Coach wristlets. A wristlet is a teeny-tiny purse that can hold basically a key and a thin stick of gum. I think they are perfectly useless, but as they are under $100 they are an item that teens want. I felt that spending that kind of money on an itty-bitty item was silly and resisted. My daughter told me that "everyone" had them, and I gave the standard, "If everybody jumped off the roof..." response that my mother used to give me, and that I swore I'd never use. I wouldn't give in, plus it bugged me that teenyboppers had Coach and I, a 40+ year-old woman, did not. I saw Bloomingdale's ad for a $400 Coach bag, signature pattern with brass studs, the bag of my dreams. I cut the ad out and salivated.

The more my daughter nagged me, the more resistant I became. I began saying, "Ain't nobody in this house getting Coach except Mama!" which of course wasn't true because I wasn't exactly getting one myself. But I apparently repeated that phrase frequently, because on my 45th birthday, my life changed: my husband presented me with $350 in cash, no small sum for him to amass, and told me, "This is for you to go buy your Coach bag." He knew better than to try and go buy

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