Happy Birthday, Patty!

Hi everybody.  Let’s wish Patty a happy birthday!  I love Patty, she’s my first perfume friend.  I know some of you longtime readers already know this story, but the one of the very first decants I ever bought when I was dipping my toe into perfumista-world was from Patty’s shop, on eBay at that time I think, and it got lost in the mail.  So there I was thinking I’d been ripped off, and of course when I emailed and complained I didn’t get it, she probably had the same thought.  It was a sample of Etro’s Messe de Minuit, of all things.  I hope whoever got it was some non-perfumista who loves generic D&G Light Blue, and they opened it up and spritzed it with abandon, and then promptly regretted all their life choices once the mildewed-crypt notes really kicked in.

Anyhoo, Patty cheerfully sent another decant, and we kept talking, by which I mean I kept badgering her incessantly about my New Fragrance Destiny, and she realized she’d never get me to shut up already, so why not write for the Posse?  Not too long after that, when I still didn’t really know Patty beyond the blog, there was some amazing deal on some bottles of … what was it?  The first Armani Prive fragrances with those fancy stone caps, they must have just launched… whoa, eons ago.  She’d found some at, like, a Stein-Mart in the middle of absolutely nowhere but driving distance for me halfway across the country, and I guess e-commerce wasn’t what it is now, and she asked me to go get a bunch of them for her business, and I hoped I wasn’t getting roped into some scam I didn’t understand, because it was serious money for me.

Well the joke’s on me, isn’t it?  Patty is one of the most unfailingly generous people I have ever met — generous with her time, her laughter, her kindness, and her perfume.  Her family is also an absolute hoot, and we had some great times in New York City together, they fit together like the proverbial peas in a pod.  Some of my closest, dearest friends are perfume people.  My life would be a much poorer one without them, and the Posse, and all of you.  Give yourself a spritz, and thanks for all the love and great comments over the years.