And the BBB story winner is...

Thank you for sending your BBB stories, anecdotes and even a poem or two.  Mr. Trevor Kensey, our favourite male customer ever wrote the most cinematic bi-coastal tale. I know there is a movie out this year called Her, so Mr. Kensey's story could be called She!  Mr. Kensey described his bag as a mushroom colour and befitting of a food blogger, we chose the above photo as foodie correct.  And very apropos of upcoming Valentines day.... it is a love story!!! Well, I will let his story speak for itself. Fortes Fortuna Juvat and the BBF!

I knew that falling in love can be a very real thing, but I used to shake my head whenever people gushed on about "soul mates" and all of that other goopy stuff. Surely these poor, deluded individuals were grasping at some supernatural ideal not possible for mere mortals.

Then it happened to me. It was 2007 when I found myself in The Big CIty. I was there for business when one day I was wandering in and out of fancy 5th Ave. department stores looking for nothing in particular to kill time in between appointments.

“Can I help you find anything today sir?” more than one sales person would ask.
“No thanks. Just looking.” I would respond over and over again.

I was far away from home and probably feeling somewhat vulnerable to the many flashy charms only The Big City can present.  Even still I had long ago stopped believing there would ever be anything “just perfect” for me here and so I stopped looking.

And then, as if by chance I met my future BBF ("Best Bag Forever") right there in the luggage department of Takashimaya!  Everything changed. She wasn't the biggest, nor the fanciest or the most adorned with fancy Italian leather.  Just the opposite, in fact. She was a rather plain “mushroom” color, not too big, not too small, and completely lacking in fancy wheels or upscale logos with which to attract attention. But she was confident, practical, and well cultured. Her slim profile told me she would travel with me anywhere and her long, elegant handles made her even more alluring in their simplicity and function.    

I walked up to introduce myself and at the first ouch I heard that “woosh” sound those "goopy soul mate people" always tell you about. It really happens! My heart started beating faster as the rest of the store seemed to vanish when I was with her. We spent a whirlwind few minutes together. Minutes that seemed like hours as we enjoyed each other company, laughing and posing while we dared imagine what our lives could be like together back home now that we had finally found each other.

But in those days I was still a cynical fool unable to commit and make important life decisions so quickly.

I thanked her and said goodbye and went on to finish my business in town and returned home. And yet I couldn’t get her out of my mind. Days had passed but I still couldn’t shake her memory or the feeling that I had made a terrible mistake in letting her go. Had I foolishly just let my soulmate slip through my fingers?

Sleep was impossible. I dreamed of the way she felt, the way she thought, and even the way she herself dreamed. I dreamed of what she wanted and then finally I realized that truly, I just wanted her.

With my new found sense of clarity I telephoned the store and desperately tried to describe her to the salesman. Surely he must have seen us together that day we made such a spectacle of ourselves?  Why had I not even bothered to write down her name?  Luckily she was nothing like the many other bags in the department and a connection was finally made. I happily purchased her plane ticket so she could come and be with me forever.  

It is now 2014 and my BBF and I are still very happy together. Surprisingly she looks as good today as she did then! Invariably my friends will get one look at her and ask me only somewhat in jest if she has a sister.

“Yes she does! Up in Canada.  Why don’t you call her?  You might just fall in love as I did."

In Takashimaya that day the cynic became the converted.