Sunday, August 2, 2020

Slave to fashion.


    I grew up in a small town. So small, we didn’t have pasta—only macaroni and noodles. No one there had a “lifestyle,” only a life. We had ice cream, but no one I knew had ever heard of gelato.
    And, in that little town, only little boys wore short pants. And nobody wore a cap backwards unless they were playing catcher in a baseball game or milking a cow.
    That fashion sense—or lack of it—has stuck with me. All my pants have legs that go all the way down. And all my caps sit on my head facing forward. The bill, after all, exists to shade your eyes, and it can’t do that if it’s poking out the back.
    None of this makes me in any sense superior, you understand. In fact, it often makes me something of an oddity. But that’s all right. I wear what I wear, fashion be damned. And the world is a better place for not having to look at my knobby knees.

 



9 comments:

  1. The image you paint is a familiar one. And, has been for years. I spent several years living and traveling abroad and it was easy to spot an American by his shorts, T shirt, tennis shoes, and backwards cap. I'm sure it's comfortable but sometimes you gotta give up the un-fashionable.

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    1. Thanks, Tom. You could also say that sometimes you gotta give up the fashionable.

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  2. Rod, thanks for bringing me up on the proper way to wear a ball cap when milking a cow.

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    1. Happy to help, David. It is hard to lean into the flank of the cow you're milking if your cap is on the proper way.

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  3. There comes a time when a man should set aside short pants.

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    1. Sure thing, Bill. You could also say that there comes a time when a boy should set aside short pants.

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  4. I once asked a kid, why don’t you wear your feed cap to the front. “What’s a front?” he replied.

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    1. He likely did not realize, either, that your question was a mild affront.

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  5. I once asked a kid, why don’t you wear your feed cap to the front. “What’s a front?” he replied.

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