Shades of love with a touch of strategy

Since childhood, I’ve always been fascinated by sunglasses. Every adult who wore them seemed effortlessly posh and confident—and I wanted that too. I even convinced my dad to buy me a few pairs of bright, heart-shaped glasses. I remember Mum yelling at him for encouraging my childish obsession. Her argument was that my eyes were too young and delicate for such cheap bright glasses.So, I waited until I was older for my real sunglasses. Unfortunately, by then, I’d been diagnosed with short-sightedness and needed powered glasses all the time. By the age of 18, I convinced Mum to buy me an expensive pair of sunglasses. I barely wore them because I couldn’t see clearly through them. Years later, when my ophthalmologist suggested LASIK treatment to get rid of my glasses, I jumped at the chance.Since then, I have built a collection of around 12 branded pairs—plus a few unimportant random ones.My partner has just one pair. Yet every time I fall in love with a new sunglass, he encourages me to buy them without ever judging my growing collection. While buying my latest pair, I felt guilty enough at my excessiveness that I asked him to stop me from buying any more. I clearly had no self-control and needed him to stop encouraging me — and start stopping me — from buying yet another ‘unnecessary’ pair. He agreed. We were at a mall recently, walking by the lake on a blazing sunny afternoon. I’d forgotten my sunglasses, and conveniently, there was a sunglass kiosk right at the entrance.It was a genuine necessity. I’d try a few and only buy one if I really loved it. Naturally, I loved two.My partner played along beautifully. He encouraged me to try more and casually threw in lines like, “Wear mine, I’ll ask the driver to bring them up," “Don’t you already have one like this?” and “This one is pretty." At one point, he even walked away to take a call, only to return with his sunglasses and say, “Take mine. You said you don’t want to buy any more, remember?”I resisted, insisting that he needed it too—his eyes needed protection from the afternoon sun. Truthfully, I had already decided I was buying. I was just searching for one that wouldn’t make me feel too guilty about the price.And then my husband played his final move.He held out his sunglasses and said, “Hold these for a minute.” I did. Then came the masterstroke: “Wear them. I don’t need them today.”And just like that, I wore his sunglasses for the rest of the afternoon—happy, protected, and rather proud of my partner.Subtle. Strategic. And completely focused on the end result. He played me beautifully and, true to his word, stopped me from buying another pair of sunglasses. 

Source: Deccan Herald