Inside Saks

We came, we saw, and here's the takeaway.

A couple of days ago I took the train to Manhattan armed with a destination and a purpose: Saks Fifth Avenue, to shop with my daughter Eliza, who is getting married in six weeks.

For me, the day would be radically different, a departure from my routine, which is largely writing, feeding and walking Charlie and myself, and the occasional grudging trip to the grocery store. This would be a day where I would not be roaming hither and yon, but confined first by train, then brick and mortar. Not free-range, but caged. Counter to my every instinct, I was really looking forward to it.

Saks Fifth Avenue takes up an entire city block, and it would be our temporary universe. Contained within its walls, an opulent patchwork of boutiques, like bazaars of yore, only glitzy and filled with items affixed to exorbitant price tags. Fun to peruse, like being in a museum where no one’s going to tell you not to touch things, because they aren’t quite sure you can’t afford to buy them.

We lived for three hours in the Saks bubble, going to the ladies’ lounge (best bathroom in midtown!) and having lunch on the 5th floor, at a place called, I kid you not, Honeybrains. I got the peanut butter and banana snack, which is a half of a cup of peanut butter with a chopped quarter of a banana and a pool of raw honey served in a small Styrofoam cup. It cost more than my train ticket.

We examined price tags with faux nonchalance, wondering who on earth had this kind of disposable income while being surrounded by the living, breathing answers to our speculative incredulity.

It was a far cry from my day-to-day where I pick dog fur off my yoga pants and shout at Alexa to play NPR. I felt like we’d been to a foreign country where we tried to pass ourselves off as natives, and maybe even succeeded.

Could I live like that? No, never would I ever, even if I had the dough. Eliza and I sojourned briefly inside an iconic Manhattan snow globe. It was a day both precious and ridiculous; in the end, we made off with it- to have and to hold!- like bandits.