Geste Humięcki & Graef 2008

We find ourselves in a day in the life of Sissi. Actually Susanne, but only a few know that. Today is not Sissi's day: The eyelash curler is stuck. While forcefully trying to open it, she breaks one of her long, gelled, and pink-painted nails. She shrieks, sheds a tear while whining, and puts a band-aid on it. Then she gets dressed. As she slips into her white patent high heels, her right foot gets wet. Pocahontas, her Chihuahua, has peed inside - again! Sissi screams, looks for Pocahontas, and gives her a treat, telling her to be a good girl.

Today is an important day: Her crush has an appointment with her for a haircut. Today she will let him know that he can ask her out on a date. She just has to make sure he doesn’t see her broken nail… She changes her outfit again and chooses a low-cut shirt as a distraction maneuver. With a coffee and a cigarette, she quickly flips through the new InTouch magazine to have a few topics to talk about. She generously sprays herself with her favorite fragrance, Escada Cherry in the air, even on the blonde hair extensions, which it clings to particularly well.

When she arrives at the Cutting Room, where she works, her boss asks her for a talk. Sissi is excited, she’s sure she’s getting a raise because she’s always so pretty and nice. She doesn’t get a raise. Instead, she receives a warning for incorrectly scheduling appointments and forgetting the supply order. That can happen, she thinks, she shouldn’t be so grumpy, and reapplies her pink lipstick because he is coming soon.

But he has little time today, he lets her know right from the start, he has another appointment that he doesn’t want to be late for. Sissi is thrilled, it must be a job interview, he will earn a lot of money later and they will be able to lead a luxurious life with their two children. Sissi hurries, putting in all her effort, after all, she is investing in her future. He is impressed and gives her a generous tip. As he leaves the shop, she watches him go. He strides gracefully down the street… and straight into the arms of a cross between a scarecrow and a glasses snake. Now he’s KISSING her too!!! Then the two go into a bookstore. Is there now Prosecco available there too?

Sissi is downcast. After work, she gets into her black Mini and drives off. Suddenly, there’s honking behind her. She looks in the rearview mirror to see what’s going on; why is the woman in the car behind her flailing around? What’s lying on the road? WHERE IS HER HANDBAG??? Oh no, she left it on the roof while unlocking the car. BANG! Now she’s also hit the guardrail. Another nail broken. The handbag run over. The Mini even smaller.

Two hours later, she is home. Heartbroken, she calls her best friend Lissi to vent. Lissi has advice: “Look at Jenny Elvers-Elbertzhagen, she’s not having it easy either, now Götz has a new girlfriend, just when Jenny has overcome her alcohol addiction and…” Meanwhile, Sissi opens a perfume sample package that arrived in the mail today “...or that poor girl on GNTM, with her thick hips, she will NEVER get booked…” Sissi sprays a spritz of “Geste” on her wrist “...colour-blocking is out again…”

What is this? It smells like… like… like back in the days on weekends in the countryside, when she was still little Susanne helping her grandma take down the air-dried laundry from the garden. So delicate and pure. Laundry white and violet. Feeding chickens. Bedtime stories. Back then, she wanted to become a veterinarian and always waved away cigarette smoke in disgust. Her best friend had a harelip and she protected him from the other kids when they teased him. “...did you notice Babsi’s terrible shoes? I won’t be seen with her anymore…”

Sissi hangs up. The heart note becomes difficult, herbal resins come in, she doesn’t particularly like this phase, but she doesn’t like herself right now either, so it touches her in a way, it’s so… different. There’s nothing artificial, sticky, or kitschy, just pore-deep pure clarity, a symbiosis of the elements air and earth, which increasingly earns her trust. Earth gives grounding, air gives hope.

Sissi goes to the bathroom and removes her makeup. She cuts off the overly long nails that constantly hinder her and also removes her extensions. Meanwhile, the amber rises from the uncomfortable resins like a phoenix from the ashes, revealing natural beauty, calm, unobtrusive, unstoppable. The heart had to hurt before it could become profound and truly beautiful.
Susanne turns to Pocahontas, picks her up, and promises: “Tomorrow we two are going to the dog park.”
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Dear Mini drivers, a postscript: Sissi received her Mini from her stylish, tasteful, eloquent, and very likeable father. Sissi has totally defaced it with a pink steering wheel plush cover and Hello Kitty cushions on the back seat. Someone should take it away from her! A driver like that doesn’t deserve such a top-class car!