Impulse Buy

I like to think that I'm not an impulsive shopper. From my brief stint at Victoria's Secret long ago, I've learned that the little pretty items kept right next to the registers legitimately come in packaging saying impulse buys. So whenever I'm at the store staring at the impulse buys, I stop myself, wanting to beat the system trying so desperately to trick me. 

But the other day I was at work, just minding my business, eating my lunch. I decided to check my email like I usually do. There, I saw an email advertising 70% Flash Sale for Deseret Book. Deseret Book is definitely one of my favorite stores. I opened the email to delete it, but then I saw IT. 

A $200 painting of George Washington for 70% off. I immediately ran and got my debit card, and then purchased this painting for myself. I couldn't believe it! 70% off a $200 painting! That never happens! Not only was it a painting, but it had a quote from Washington's inaugural speech as president. 

I was so excited that I called my mom, and then I called Sammy. Sammy asked if I was Ron Swanson, then asked if he could get some headphones he'd been eyeing up since I'd gotten my painting.

I went back to work and excitedly told my co-workers that I'd bought a painting on my lunch break. They all laughed, then asked me what the painting was of. When I said George Washington, they laughed even harder. One laughed so hard that she cried, legitimately cried. I saw the mascara on the tissue when she dabbed her eyes. We spent the rest of work looking up images of the painting, and then laughing again. One said she thought she knew me, but now she didn't anymore. 

People keep asking me why George Washington, why that painting. I really feel that George Washington was instrumental to making America a possibility. There were so many times that he should have died, and things just barely went right in his life, that ended with us winning the American Revolution and making this country the way it is. I know that he was a flawed man. But I look up to him. 

I also largely bought the painting for the quote on it. "No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of man more than the people of the United States." 

When my painting arrived I was about to leave for work. I literally dropped everything and then hung it on the wall, which was a bit difficult since it's so large and had two nail holes. But I absolutely love it! 

This picture of me with my painting also made my coworkers laugh. :) I felt really validated in my purchase when Sammy got home and texted me saying that he really really likes it. It hangs opposite our kitchen so now whenever we're cooking, I feel pretty dang patriotic. I would also just like to thank my mom for buying the Living Scriptures VHS when we were kids about George Washington. Thanks to that movie, I knew off the top of my head that this is Washington crossing the Delaware on Christmas Day to ambush the hessians, which were hired German soldiers.