He Had Me With Hardtack

   Drew won my heart with hardtack.  It sounds strange, I know, but it's true.  I have always been a sucker for romance.  But not just the generic stuff--the typical gifts that could be for any given girl.  I mean, don't get me wrong--I enjoy roses (actually, one guy gave me a literal rose bush one year for my birthday. He pointed out that a bouquet would just die, but a bush could be planted and would bloom every year on my birthday--that was sweet. But it was not Drew who did that, and this is supposed to be about Drew...).  I appreciate jewelry.  Actually, I would be hard-pressed to get a gift that I would not enjoy (hmmm...I do remember getting a hawaiian skirt and bra from my Aunt Skippy when I was about 6.  Being a good and modest christian girl--it horrified me.  Worse, she mentioned me actually trying the shameful thing on--and parading it around--so I spent the rest of Christmas day trying to hide from her, just hoping she would forget. But most gifts, I enjoy. And if she were to give me one today--I would try it on for her happily. And oops, again--I digress).  

    But Drew gave me a gift that took my breath away.  We had only been dating a couple of months, maybe, and of course we had spent most of that time talking.  Over dinner, while walking, watching a storm, during a drive, sometimes even during church (gasp!)--we would just delve into what made the other unique; what made the other angry, sad, happy, bored, interested, mesmerized, hopeful.  You name it, we wondered it about each other.  And all the other questions of life that did not pertain to Drew--or vice versa--suddenly did not seem worth asking.  Ask me a question, and I will happily tell you all my thoughts on that point (especially if you are a cute boy, which Drew happens to be).  And Drew's no dummy; he had been listening to my likes and dislikes and had gotten an idea.  

    So he calls me one night asking me to meet him after school the next day.  He has a surprise for me (no matter how old I get, those words will never cease to thrill me. Never.  hint, hint, Drew...)   You see, somewhere along the line of our discussions, we had talked about my absolute fascination with the Civil War--the battles, the soldiers, the women who waited at home, the politics and intrigue, the atrocity and the heroism that threaded through those years. I had been going to Gettysburg every year since I was little, had actually ran down Little Round Top to Devil's Den,  reveling in the fact that I was walking on ground made sacred by so many soldiers.  Anyway, like I said, I was mesmerized by that period of history.  

   Now, back to me.  I have just finished some dance class or another, and am meeting Drew in Rittenhouse Square.  He is standing there, shy, but excited with a small basket in his hand.  He simply passes it to me and lets me look inside.  Oh, I say, Thank you for this basket of...uh...bread.  He answers, not even trying to hide his pride now, Jess, it's not just bread.  It's hardtack. Real, honest-to-God hardtack.  I looked it up and found the recipe. This is exactly what the soldiers from the Civil War ate.  I made you hardtack, cause I know how much you love the Civil War. 

   Wow. This was from a guy who, if it couldn't be microwaved or cooked in a George Foreman Grill, than it was too much trouble. But when it came to me, he went to the trouble.  He found out exactly what interested me, then made something from that genre. Baked it, to be specific.   That is romance.  That is hot. I felt special and important to him.  I felt worth his time, his labor--and yes, worth even the trouble of baking some antiquated bread. 

  So yeah, he had me with hardtack.