The Hobbit

You Are Extraordinary

The story I tell everyone who loves The Hobbit and asks about the notes in it is always the same. The Hobbit is my nickname for my slightly shorter-than-me husband, Chris. The fragrance was inspired by our relationship and by Tolkien’s characters. On our first date, my C.P.A. husband dared to meet me before April 15th, so we met early in the day. I was living on Long Island at the time, in a place where a train to New York’s Penn Station ran once an hour. So, to make the date on time, I was in a rush. I told Chris I had missed breakfast but was on my way. I still do this. I am constantly running errands and doing things on a cup of coffee and an offering to the Old Gods. I will never forget coming up the escalator at Penn and seeing Chris in a video-game-themed t-shirt, Cinnabon in his hands. We split the cinnamon bun in a random seating area at Penn Station because I'd met him online, and I didn’t want to be murdered. 

And cinnamon buns have always been a thing in our relationship. Our wedding cake was cinnamon bun-flavored, and we even stopped at a Cinnabon in Roppongi on our honeymoon in Japan. 

I was talking about the honeymoon recently. I was joking, but I said I probably got someone fired because I cried at Tokyo DisneySea. We had experienced this amazing honeymoon. I saw torii in Kyoto, walked through a dozen incredible temples, got as high as you can get on Fuji-san without climbing, and even took a video of a guy dressed like a wolf playing an anime theme song on a melodica in Osaka. We were back in Tokyo for our last few days, having lunch in the Venice section of the park. We were outside under an awning, and it was raining, so we had basically the whole area to ourselves. I had a moment of immense gratitude for the entire experience. I was the first member of my family of origin to leave the country, and here I was farther than most of my family had even dreamed of going. 

And I told myself I didn’t deserve it. 

Chris didn’t really know what to say to that, outside of the fact that we were in a Disney theme park in Tokyo, and I did deserve something that extraordinary because I was that extraordinary. 

Once again, I am in a place where it is frequently difficult to remember that I am extraordinary. There are a ton of things coming up in the near future. Many of them I can’t talk about yet because they aren’t completely finalized, but Sif Sniffs is doing some fantastic things soon that I am so excited about. Honestly, when I started this company in my cult, I didn’t think that any of this would happen, and here I am. 

And that’s the story of hobbits. They are having their lives in the Shire, but Gandalf shows up, and they have something extraordinary thrust upon them, and they rise to the occasion.