Shallow

He seemed to be the man of my dreams.

As far as my "Future Husband Must-Haves" list went, he had it all.

Sense of Humor
Handsome
Athletic
Religious
Hard working
Kind
Musical
Fun

Check. Check. Check.

He was the Ultimate Future Husband material.

And he liked ME!

I was going to school full time plus working 2 jobs and didn't have much time to date, but he made every effort to spend time with me whenever I was available. He even straight up told me he wanted to get to know me better. He would walk me to campus. He would hang out while I was studying. We would stay up late playing card games.

I liked him. A lot.

But he had this jacket....

It was a longer plum colored jacket that had an elastic gathering at the waist. Oh, and it had a hood. A really big hood.

So?

So, it bugged me to no end. I know it sounds so shallow. Who judges a book by it's cover, or in my case a man by his jacket?

Me, that's who.

Now, don't get me wrong. It didn't stop me from seeing him. It didn't stop me from being seen with him. But it was like someone scratching a blackboard with their fingernails every time I saw him in it. And you can't really consider marrying someone who wears something that causes that kind of reaction inside you.

Can you?

No, really. That's an honest question.

I don't know what it was about that jacket that bothered me. Was it the color? I mean I don't know too many guys who have a plum jacket. So maybe but I don't think so. Was it the fact that he paid for a jacket that had elastic at the waist? It is a little weird, but then again so were tight rolled jeans but we all wore them. Was it the huge hood? Could have been. To be honest, I don't know why I hated that thing, but I still remember it, 20 years later.

In the end, things didn't work out with the guy.

I would like to think it was that we just weren't compatible or that our goals just didn't align. But I am a little scared to admit that maybe the jacket played a much larger role in that relationship than it should have.

So there. I admit it. Out loud. On a public forum. To the world.

I am shallow.