Clarity $1.99

"Imagination gets a test 
at the place I love the best.
How could I get dressed 
without a thrift shop?"

-- Dan Zanes

I found Clarity for $1.99. Who knew it would be so cheap? Here I'd been walking around in a muddle of confusion and indecision and there was clarity, right in front of me. It was on the sale rack even, blue letters on a black T-shirt: Clarity.

It's a sickness for me, really, thrift store shopping. It's an addiction and I'm a big time junkie. The fact that I own at least five black skirts is just a hint of the depth of this addiction. Don't even get me started on shirts and shoes. My bulging closet and dresser cannot contain the dirty little secrets of my habit.

I don't like shopping retail. The merchandise is designed to taunt shoppers. And it makes me feel inadequate, shabby. I'm reminded of my Glamour magazine days when I believed that if I just had the right clothes and hair, everything else in my life would magically fall into place. Retail stores try to tell me how I "should"  look, not necessarily how I want to look. Besides, I can never afford the clothes I really like so it just ends up being an exercise in unrequited longing. Who needs it!

Thrift store shopping, however, is always brimming with possibility. I rarely go in looking for a specific item, but I usually shop with a specific mood. There's the sensible-work-clothes mood. The creative-singing-gig mood. The outdoorsy-camping mood. The walk-on-the-beach mood. The let's-try-something-completely-different mood. Of course the let's-try-something-completely-different mood can sometimes lead to the what-the-hell-was-I-thinking-mood, but there's no serious harm done.

The day I found clarity on the sale rack for $1.99 was a delight. After all, rarely do we find clarity when we set out looking for it. Don't get me wrong. You have to look. You always have to be looking. But we tend to find clarity when we patiently sift through a lot of possibilities. We have to wrestle with desire, longing for the silky blouse that's not your size instead of the soft, comfy shirt that is. We have to be adventurous, willing to  take risks to open up new possibilities. We have to learn to tell the difference between cheap thrills and quality merchandise. And know that every now and then we should go with a cheap thrill, just for the fun of it. 

Finding clarity (or love, or hope, or wisdom, or inspiration...) is a lot like thrift store shopping. Go in with an open mind, a sense of adventure, and a willingness to be disappointed from time to time. And keep going back! Never stop looking. You will find what you need.