I was vacuuming my house this morning, and had made my way to the end, which is my youngest son’s room. He is the clean one out of my children, bless his soul…While I was vacuuming up the Odie hair, which is really the only mess in there, I looked up and noticed two bottles of Brut on his dresser.
I am sure I have seen these there before, I am nearly positive I have probably moved them around to clean, but for some reason today…I needed to smell it.
I did, and I was thrown back about 35 years in time.
When I was about 12, in like 1976…I met a boy. His name was David Kinkade. His grandparents lived about a half a block away from us, and the boys used to come and visit for the summer.
I am not sure why the scent brought back the memory, but it definitely did. Maybe it was a stolen squirt of cologne from his granddad’s bathroom, to impress a skinny little blonde girl from up the road that he was fond of…
The neighborhood I grew up in as a child, was most peoples dream for their children. We were safe, we watched out for each other, and mostly we were all friends. Our house was close enough to the elementary school, that it took us, on a dawdling day, about 5 minutes to get there. It sometimes seems like a dream to me that I lived that life, it was so long ago now. The memories I have of those years are happy…pretty much all of them.
So the summer I met David, we were instantly attached at the hip. We had an instant connection with each other, and liked each other immediately. His little brother Smallfry was another story…he drove us nuts, he and my little brother were friends and were the bane of our existence that summer. Sadly, I really don’t remember what Smallfry’s real name even was…
We used to spend hours and hours together, riding our bikes, making jumps, trekking through the forest, building forts…We were the best of friends.
I don’t remember when we realized that maybe we liked each other more than friends, but we did. He was the first boy that ever kissed me, and I was the first girl he ever kissed. I don’t know how long it took him to get up the courage for that first kiss, but I know that I was anticipating it as much as being terrified that it would happen.
I can’t even really remember where we were, but I remember what it felt like, how my heart raced…and how I must have blushed.
I don’t think it really changed our relationship all that much, except we would walk around with our arms around each other, and holding hands, and all my friends would run away giggling, or singing Donna and David sitting in a tree…
We would look at each other with a knowing…between the two of us, that they would never feel what we felt. They had no idea.
Ahh…the innocence.
There is nothing like that feeling that you can have with another person, that you will absolutely never have with anyone ever again.
We are all so different, and every relationship has different emotions, different vibes, different chemistry.
I am a little sad to know that the feelings that David and I shared as young teens is so far in the past…that innocence, the trust, the knowing. Life is so uncomplicated when you are 12.
At the same time, opening that bottle of Brut this morning made me remember that feeling…it made my heart flutter, my mind wander and put a smile on my face.
It reminded me, that all is not lost in adulthood, that I can still feel the joy, the anticipation, the happiness that a connection with another human can bring me.
It reminded me that I need to feel those connections down to my soul more often. That I need to make eye contact and connect with people, to really listen to what others say when they speak, and to give strangers and friends alike a chance to penetrate through the wall I sometimes have up.
That is a sweet revelation…my eyes are open, my heart is smiling…
So to the makers of Brut, I thank you for the memories…from the bottom of my smiling heart…
And to David, wherever you may be, I still think about you and get all warm and fuzzy in my heart, that is a pretty incredible gift to give someone, especially after all these years.
Peace and love my friends xoxo
