Sale shoes need love, too.

It's a natural instinct to take better care of our most expensive items. That pair of premium skinny jeans, the first designer dress we bought with our first paycheck, our black leather knee-high boots -- these are what run through our heads when we're faced with the perennial if-there-was-a-fire-what-would-you-take scenario.

There are exceptions to this rule, of course. Sentimental photographs, personally-inscribed books from former lovers, autographed Mandy Patinkin posters, for example. But in addition to the obvious, there are also those once-in-a-lifetime fashion finds you still can't believe you picked up for such a steal.

And when a find like this fulfills a long-time desire, well, that even rivals hearing a Journey song, beginning to end, on the car radio. Even "Don't Stop Believin'."

I had one such victory yesterday, when finally, after three months of high-and-low searching, I was able to cross "black, round-toed pump with bow-accent" off my list.

My last pair had given me two and a half good years and I'd wager no fewer than a thousand miles. They'd seen the inner sanctums of three-letter agencies and listened to think tank panel discussions on Chinese military modernization. They looked great with my vintage dresses and my pairs of black, gray, and tweed trousers. But what so fondly endeared them to me was the way they complemented my red pleated lampshade skirt like no other black pump could. Though Beyonce's anthem teaches us differently, I truly did, until yesterday, think my beloved BCBGirls stilettos were irreplaceable.

But then, completely serendipitously, I found these Oscar de la Rentas (pictured above) that not only had the coveted bow-accent but a unique, vintage-inspired texturing at the toe as well. Marked down four times to fit well within my set limit, this beautiful shoe and I were as meant for each other as that married couple we can all think of who still flirt after 30 years together.

Even though this pair of shoes, price-wise, ranks somewhere in the low to middle range of my footwear collection, the three month labyrinth of pain and disappointment I had to go through to find them has me vowing to treat them as I do my Darryl Strawberry rookie card collection.

Like gold.