Necessary things that begin with the letter B but do not necessarily balance when it comes to cost

Sunday was a shopping day. Of sorts. I know, I know, you're thinking, but she went shopping on Friday. Friday was one-store, fun sort of unnecessary wandering around shopping. Sunday was the kind of shopping that involved a list of necessary items (read needed more than wanted), more than one store, and planning. Most prominent on the list was 1) car battery, and 2) bras.

At a friend's advice, I took my car to Sears to get a necessary new battery since every now and then it wouldn't start and I'd be stranded, for instance, in airport parking after three days of travel, trying to appeal to the kindness of strangers, and finding myself slack-jaw shocked when two women could not be bothered to help another woman alone in a parking lot with a dead battery, and the man who finally did help me only cratered because I wouldn't accept his original No, and had me pop the hood of his car (seriously) and affix the cables on both cars.

Not to mention the two times my friend left her work to come over and jump my car and the one time I called AAA. So, yeah, replacing the battery was sitting high atop the list of things to get done on Sunday.

But where was I? Oh yeah, while my car was at Sears, the niece and I walked through Memorial City Mall to Victoria's Secret, a place that neither of us are too fond of as far as stores go but both of us are loyal to as far as bras go. They just fit better, feel better and, okay, look better. Than all the rest. But they are also expensive, and the truth is that Victoria's secret is that she's figured out a way to get so many of us to pay big money for those bras that do not actually come with graceful wings of white feathers.

When all was said and done, I got three bras and forked over $110 and change. And then we returned to Sears, where for a new battery and labor, I paid $102.00. Which seems very lopsided, if you ask me. I mean, the bras aren't going to get me safely home, nor are they going to give me music and lights. Instead, the bras require maintenance of the hand-washing, line-drying sort, and will be ignored on most weekends and resented most Monday mornings. The battery, I don't have to think about again.

Perhaps I'm wrong trying to connect and compare the two, but I can't help myself, I just think it odd that three bras with no wings cost more than a car battery with a warranty.