Thursday, August 21, 2008

Alone In My Car

I've found that on Sundays I either sneak out of church directly after the service ends to drive home and make myself something for lunch, or I don't make it out the door for over an hour. I can't just hang out for a few minutes, especially if I'm trying to go to lunch with friends, because inevitably I'll run into some I "know" and then who I'm with will run into someone they "know." I put quotes around "know" because most of the time, I don't know much about these friends. I wish I did, but sadly most of these friendships are based on 2 minute conversations had in the church lobby a few times a month. The conversations inevitably end with one person saying, "We really should hang out soon. How about lunch or dinner this week?" Then the other saying, "I'd love that. Just email me tomorrow and I'll check my calendar." (This rarely plays out.) Then we hug and the struggle for the door begins again.

Well, this past Sunday, I got in my car to head to Jersey Mike's for a sandwich with a group, relieved a bit just to be alone for 10 minutes on the car ride after all that hugging. I turned up the music and cruised down 75, taking a deep breath. It was at this very moment that I noticed a pungent odor in the car. I panicked. "Do I smell? I did run this morning... BUT I showered after. I shouldn't smell. Did I remember to put on deodorant?" Without hesitation, I checked to make sure my deodorant was in place and getting the job done. And indeed it was. So, where was this smell coming from? My nose was twitching like a hound dog on the hunt. Then I found it. The source. The top of my shoulder smelled of someone else’s B.O. Ahhhhhhhhhhh! When someone taller than me had hugged me, their sweaty armpit must have come into contact with the top of my shoulder. Nightmare. What was I to do? Naturally, I picked up the bottle of water in my cup holder, unscrewed the cap, and tried to gently tip it to rinse the smell off of my arm. Well, as you can guess this wasn't an easy task, especially since I was driving 70mph down a busy interstate (okay, closer to 80mph), so... of course I spilled all over my lap, soaking my jeans. The worst part is that the water was unable to remove the smell from the fabric, so I was wet and a bit smelly when I arrived at lunch with friends. Cool... really cool.

Anyways, the moral of this story is:

When forced to hug many "almost" strangers,
Beware of the possible body odor dangers!

4 comments:

Katherine said...

and who was this friend that suggested lunch at Jersey Mike's? :) but note, that i am not taller than you so that was not my B.O. on your shoulder. and also note that i didn't even notice your wet jeans or the smell!

Brooke said...

That's what we get for side-hugging all the time. I'm voting we institute full-on bear hugs at church going forward. That minimizes arm pit interaction.

Anonymous said...
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Marcus said...

I thought your shoulder smelled funny that day...that is hilarious. B.O. is contagious.