The boyfriend box.

I've started packing for my European Experience. I still have a week until my departure but I'm one of those neurotic people who needs everything to be 'just so' and this requires me to began the process a week in advance. I typically tend to be a minimalist traveler, packing the fewest amount of items I can; usually I run into the problem of not having enough clothes, underwear, clean socks. Perhaps this time it won't be an issue since I'll be wearing a crew uniform for a majority of the time. Glamorous, really. (In that cheesy "I had to buy white tennis shoes" way. Honestly, I had to buy white tennis shoes-- and I think white tennis shoes are hideous! It's tragic but on the bright side, I haven't been forced to buy Crocs, that might potentially be a bigger relief.)

But here I am, packing. I have little else to consume my already mundane days. This morning I was shuffling through paperwork when I happened upon a boyfriend box. A "Jungle Berries energy bar" box, to be exact. AVH sent me this box before he left to sail across the Atlantic. Those 5 evil weeks of technological deprivation. Looking back I have a difficult time understanding how I coped with not being able to contact him. (His current Atlantic crossing is only taking 12 days and he has email access, like whoa.)

Back to the boyfriend box. I've been in the dating market for the past 8 years of my existence. It has been a long 8 years. I only have 3 boyfriend boxes (bless, I've had many more boyfriends than that). Well, 2 boyfriend boxes and one boyfriend envelope-- Band boy, Food Snob, and AVH. A boyfriend box is the lazy version of a scrapbook. They're emotionally convenient though, they take less time and effort to make and can be easily thrown away, or burned, as the situation demands. But perhaps more importantly, they're an easy way to store memories and trinkets.

AVH sent me this box back in 2006 and since then it has collected letters, dried flowers, wrappers, boarding passes, photos, and pretzels. I saved the mini bag of pretzels. I was immediately distracted from my packing and organizing when I started reading through the letters he has written me. His first letter, "I think this is the 3rd non-business related letter I've ever sent in my life. And that includes postcards. Quite terrible, don't you think?" that was back in October of 2006. In November of 2007 he sent me a blank check to help figure things out with Rowan; I never cashed it. In April 2008 he sent me a plane ticket to Italy, and now I'm packing my bags. He once wrote me, "even though I believe many good relationships can be cultivated through hard work, I do think what we have is more than just from a formula of success but rather something greater, something serendipitous." Amen.

That's what's great about this box-- it's easy to see how our relationship has evolved and how we've both grown during the past few years. And, just maybe, this will be the last boyfriend box I ever have.