Honey, I Got You a Bowling Ball

I remember as a child watching an episode of the Flintstones where Fred buys Wilma a bowling ball for her birthday. I remember laughing at his excitement in purchasing it for her, and laughing even harder when she let him have it after receiving it.

Of course she didn’t like it, Fred! YOU like bowling, not Wilma. Wilma likes pearls and appliances made of talking elephants.

Of course, now I am old enough to appreciate these situations, I realize I myself have turned into Fred Flintstone; but instead of a bowling ball I use Bond girl accessories to become the butt of my own joke.

Let me explain…

As a collector, I have looked for ways to buy items that the Bond girls wear and use by using my wife as a target of these items in the form of gift giving opportunities.

Vesper’s sunglasses, Sophie Harley’s Love Knot, Casino Royale earrings, etc. have all been presented to my wife.

Of course, the reality is she is a casual Bond fan by proxy only and these gifts, as well meaning as they were, were not embraced with the excitement I expected. That is because my wife is of a higher intelligence than I am and would politely, if not evenly, thank me and hand it back for me to put into my collection..and there they remain, unworn for the most part.

You would think I would learn, but as most James Bond collectors with spouses, you desperately listen for cues that your significant other may just want a Bond item. With SkyFall, I hopelessly repeated my historical error by “hearing” my wife exclaim that she liked Severine’s bamboo necklace in the casino scene. At least I thought I heard this.

In actuality, I probably asked her what she thought of it and she probably said, “It’s ok, I guess…” But that was enough for me to order the piece.

Now, I would like to think I am learning, because as the necklace was on its way to me I decided I would not present her with the necklace because, let’s face it, I wanted it to be in my collection and she probably doesn’t want this anyway.

Am I learning? Slowly, but surely.

When the necklace came in, I didn’t even show it to her, though she did see it on my desk, and as expected she looked at it and placed it back without too much aplomb.

I would like to imagine that for the next movie, I will have evolved even more by not considering a Bond related gift for my wife at all, but only time will tell.

That all being said, if she reads this and wants to wear the Severine necklace, she is more than welcome to!

Maybe I haven’t learned as much as I thought.