My Current Heroine

I spoke to a woman last week who told me that instead of buying her soon-to-be-married girlfriend a traditional bachelorette-party gift (actually, what she said was, "some dumb thong"), she paid for a low-income family to adopt a dog from the Santa Monica animal shelter.

Apparently, this woman happened to be at the shelter when she overheard a mother and father telling their child that although they had found a dog they really liked, it was going to be too expensive to adopt. She made an on-the-spot decision to cover the family's adoption fees, veterinary examination, plus a year's worth of food from Centinela Pet and Feed, all in honor of her friend's imminent wedding.

"It was probably really selfish of me," the woman said, "but I thought it would be a far more meaningful present than lingerie."

Oh, that we should all be so self-absorbed.