I first thought of this almost a month ago, but I’m just now getting the time (or rather, making the time) to write it down. Luckily it stuck with me and I didn’t forget it in the meantime.

So a good while back (back when she was still my girlfriend), one of my ex’s went away for the summer, travelling abroad.

Of course when she came back, she came bearing gifts — several of which were for me.

I open the first gift: a club soccer team jersey! Wow, real dope gift. I later found out that it’s basically the most popular team in the country. I’m a big soccer fan, so of course I love it.

I open the next gift: the country’s national soccer team shorts and the Olympic volleyball team jersey (it was difficult to find a national soccer team jersey). Nice, I really like watching that country’s team play. I probably would have ended up trying to buy that stuff myself over the Internet at some point — ok maybe not a
volleyball jersey, but the volleyball jersey was nice, and besides, it’s the thought that counts, right?

On to the next gift (yes, 3 gifts, crazy nice and unnecessary, AND she got my brother something too): a hat and scarf with the logo of the same club team from gift 1.
—Ummmm, ok. Kinda odd, since I already got two really good soccer/sports-related gifts, but whose turning up their nose at more gifts, right? What kind of gift snob does that, right?……….right?

These three gifts made me couple of different ways. The majority of me was just happy I got some gifts from another country — after all, I’m not 100% ungrateful bastard. But then there was this other nagging thing in the back of my mind that I couldn’t make go away.

Disappointment.

Here’s my girlfriend. Supposed to know me better than anyone else. She goes away and all she brings back is a bunch of soccer-related stuff? Is that really all that I’m about? Is that really all she gets from me? I could’ve sworn I had other interests. I like art, I like music, I like computers, gadgets and technology. What about that stuff? Anything else?

Basically I was disappointed because those gifts just made me feel simple and one-dimensional. It was an even more bitter pill to swallow because I always fancied myself a jack of all trades — someone that could do anything well if I felt like it. A young Gordon Parks or something like that. And just like that, reduced to sports.

Fast-forward to early September, 2007. Cascais, Portugal, tail end of a great 2 week vacation with my girlfriend. I’m taking a shower (come to think of it, most of these posts come to me while I’m in the shower), going over the past 14 days in my head — thinking about where we went, what we did, and what we bought. Specifically, I started thinking of the stuff I had bought for myself. And at that point I realized that, somewhere along the trip I unwittingly decided what my personal souvenir from every city on this vacation (and probably all future vacations) was gonna be — club soccer jerseys.

Hmmm. This is surprising.

So was I just being wack there? Was she just able to see right through me and figure out exactly what I didn’t even know I wanted, years before I could figure it out on my own? Or did she just not know what else to get me? I can’t let myself think I was completely wrong. But that was definitely an interesting turn of events.