Technically the title of today’s entry should be “The Road To Adoption, Part 5,” but as I was typing, I asked myself what happens when you find your holy grail? Does it mean the end? And I changed the title.

This particular adoption began some nine months ago, when I first laid eyes on her. She was a few years old but pristine, barely touched. All the plastic was still on the hardware so that my trembling fingers would one day have the pleasure of removing it…

Her “bio” mother/owner had too many other H bags and not enough arms to carry them all. All this bag needed was a custodian who would treasure her as if she were the only bag in the world. As if she were the ultimate prize.

I’d always dreamed of owning an exotic Hermès Kelly or Birkin, but it was getting harder and harder to live that fantasy for reasons listed in my last adoption post. Moreover, it took some time for me to process the sticker shock and somehow make peace with the fact that this purchase would not be a part of my investment portfolio but only a reminder of all the long hours of work that went into affording it. Does that help at all in rationalizing the guilt of buying such an expensive bag? Catholic guilt, no. Immigrant guilt, definitely no. But if all of my life experiences have ever taught me anything, it is that you have to sometimes give yourself a break from the guilt or else all the hard work leaves you joyless.

I’m here to tell you I’ve hushed the guilt and the joy is loud.

There she is, the matte black crocodile, souple Kelly 32cm in all her glory. Just modern and casual enough for my daily needs yet elegant enough to represent its heritage. I can’t wait to do an ODJ series around her. But probably as you are reading this post, I am on a plane going across the pond for a bunch of weeks. So no more reveals of her till I come home. I’ll leave you with these final shots in different lighting:

Going back to the original question I posed at the beginning of this entry, I actually asked the same of the person who made this adoption possible for me. Where do I go from here, I’d asked, now that I have found my holy grail? He replied without a beat, “I guess you fly private from now on.”

I giggled at his answer but you all know by now that I’m a hunter at heart. This road to adoption ain’t over yet…