("The Lord's Prayer", embroidery floss on burlap,
38 in. high by 32 in. wide)
*click to enlarge*
As you can no doubt surmise from reading it, I cross-stitched this sampler in the heyday of the 1990's, when dotcom start-ups were sprouting millionaires overnight and our nation's giddy prosperity showed no signs of a slowdown. (Just writing those words feels like I'm describing a time long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away.) I was living in London and just about to move to Los Angeles. The dollar was strong, the pound was weak and the It Bag was the ne plus ultra of accessories. And as much as it pains me to admit it now, I was a chick obsessed. We all were a bit, though, weren't we? I was never as bad as Carrie on "Sex and the City" with her $50,000 shoe addiction, but I don't even want to think how far the money I hemorrhaged on designer purses would have gone today in off-setting my recent renovation.
I want to believe I'm not like that anymore. As much as I still gasp, shake and pine for fabulous design, my covetousness has been somewhat tamed. I still crave luxury, but whereas before I needed one of each, now one will do. My maternal grandparents, staunch Quakers the both of them, would be proud.
Of course, having said all that, if the Almighty should find a surplus of Prada couture and deign to send it my way, I think it would be terribly ungracious to refuse.