how many pairs?!

So there was a time when many of you were dying to get your hands on a pair of Dr. Martens. Admit it.

For a while there, they were the only cool shoes to wear. But as my parents didn't prefer indulging us with overpriced, incredibly thick-soled boots and sandals, they were hard to come by in the Christensen household. (Payless came out with some excellent imitations, however. Only drawback? The smell...) However, when I accompanied my dad to England when I was 16, I insisted that we visit the Dr. Marten Superstore. And we brought shoes back for all (including a miniature pair for baby Danielle). We were especially cool (at a fraction of the cost) as we had them before they reached the U.S. (So cool.)

Rissa, number three in the Christensen line up of daughters, was particularly enthused with the footwear. During the Dr. Marten craze, whenever we purchased something of substance, Rissa would always say, "Do you know how many pairs of Dr. Martens you could buy with that?" And she would calculate it and let us know.

Last night, Jess and I finally bit the bullet and purchased our airfare to and from Asia. Now we leave in less than a month (!) so yes, we're cutting it pretty close. And given our place in the game, the price tag for said airfare was bordering on insane.

And all I could think of as we purchased our overpriced (coach) tickets was:

"Do you know how many pairs of Dr. Martens we could buy with this?"

Dozens Riss, dozens.