Dinner and a Memory

Tonight a friend and I went to see The Magdalene Sisters, loosley based on the true story of Ireland's Magdalene Laundries. Apparently, Joni Mitchell even wrote a song about the injustice done there. Not what you would call a pick-me-upper, but definitely worth seeing. However, this post is not a movie review or semi-political/religious dais, it's a memory triggered by the senses.

Seated somewhere near me in the theatre, though I couldn't tell where, was a man wearing Hugo Boss cologne. Between scenes it would waft my direction and arouse my senses. I don't think I could ever date a man who wore Hugo Boss. That is, not again.

I met Brice on a seven week summer mission's trip on which dating others on the trip was strictly prohibited. I was generally trying to stay away from boys at the time (one of the guys, Gregg, quickly coined me the "anti-guy girl"), so that suited me just fine. Therefore, Brice and I started to like each other somewhere around week two and a half. This resulted in many a talk from the leaders about our apparent (and, for the time being, inappropriate) closeness. Once they thought they saw us holding hands and all hell broke loose-- we hadn't even been holding hands at that point, not at that point.

Through our platonic facade, we actually became close friends. After the farewell dinner Brice and I had a long talk and decided to try long distance dating. As a going away present he gave me some of my favorite perfume (which I had complained all summer I was too poor to buy) and his old, worn-in AE cap. The next morning he flew back to Kansas and I went back to Wisconsin.

Soo Brice sent me a package full of meaningful things he had gathered up for me, including a present from his mother! One of the items was his bottle of Hugo Boss cologne. He sent a note with the package listing reasons for the contents. For the Hugo Boss, he simply stated that I had always said that he smelled good and he didn't want to smell good for anyone else, so I could keep his cologne.

He treated me like a princess and I wasn't ready for it. Not only was I not ready for it, I didn't feel I deserved it. Most of all, whether I deserved it or not I knew that, in the long run, I was not meant to be his queen. Even though we had only dated for a short time, breaking up with Brice was one of the hardest things for me to do. I broke out in hives, got sick to my stomach and had panic attacks about it, but I knew it was the right thing. I knew because this was the first relationship I had really, truly given up to God and instead of yelling at me for breaking his heart, Brice thanked me for following God's will for us and we have stayed friends.

That fall, Brice started dating Katy. They have been married for two or three years. She is the rightful keeper of the cologne.

But I kept the cap.