love story unfolds at berkeley bowl (unedited)
yesterday afternoon, i went to the new berkeley bowl west and while picking tomatoes, a lady commented on my perfume and asked what it was. i told her it was Chloe, and she commented that it was the perfect scent for me to wear and that her teenage daughters wore Channel. i then found myself talking to her about various perfumes, brand names, etc (yay, the girly girl in me came out). even though neither of us looked like the type that would get too excited about brand names, i think we both believed we were classy without the brand. so there in the middle of the tomato isle, we get go of our produce and talked about this and that and the conversation got really good when she told me she was french and bam (yes I am a francophile) she got my undivided attention if she didn't before. she then started telling me that she met her husband when she came to the US on vacation, and that was the story of the decade. he was talk dark with blue eyes and handsome as she was petite and dark and beautiful. his father was dating someone from her family. he asked her out right then and there and they had the best time sightseeing in SF, then he took her to dinner for a 2nd date, and she found herself having such a great time again, he was unlike anyone else she's ever met and she could be herself but still have a ball of fun with him. he was also a gentleman who didn't try anything some other guy would upon meeting a beautiful girl. she knew he was someone special so that she had gone to a store earlier that day and bought him a cologne as a good bye gift, the funny thing is, she received a bottle of perfume from him that night as well. and they realized that they bought the gifts at the same time, at the same store earlier that day! needless to say, she had to leave to go back to france, but he followed her a month later, and proposed, they got married in spain at the rock of gibraltar. she took out an old black and white photo from her purse and showed me proudly, it was a small picture of her parents of what must've been taken when they were in their 20's, very classic parisian look. and her mom was a classic beauty. many years later, she has two daughters who wear channel perfume, and a cartful of produce to go home and cook for her husband and daughters. she then stared into my eyes and told me to hope for a great love to come, kissed me on the cheek and hurried off to pay and pick up her daughters from school.