"I'm sick of this terrycloth existence" - Hank, 2.13.61
It's July and I already see the Back to School ads popping up here and there. How does that happen? The summer's only a month old for most kids!?
The summers used to be what I lived for back in my former life as a teacher. Any teacher who tells you they don't love their time off isn't being fully honest with you.
At the end of each summer, I have a birthday. My mother loved this for me. Well, she loved this for her. She loved the fact that she had an excuse to go spend a day with me to take me shopping and buy me new teacher clothes. Mom was very proud that I was a teacher back then.
See, kids get the back to school shopping...teachers aren't all that different. Each year mom and I would go to The Gap and stock up. And each year it would pain me to shop there. I felt like such a fraud. Like it was going to cause one of my testicles to go rolling out of my pant leg. Because in my macho-bullshit mind, shopping there was somehow beneath me.
I'm going to make a bold statement here. I will never shop at The Gap again. Nothing against them...or against people who shop there, but it's not my bag.
It's July and I already see the Back to School ads popping up here and there. How does that happen? The summer's only a month old for most kids!?
The summers used to be what I lived for back in my former life as a teacher. Any teacher who tells you they don't love their time off isn't being fully honest with you.
At the end of each summer, I have a birthday. My mother loved this for me. Well, she loved this for her. She loved the fact that she had an excuse to go spend a day with me to take me shopping and buy me new teacher clothes. Mom was very proud that I was a teacher back then.
See, kids get the back to school shopping...teachers aren't all that different. Each year mom and I would go to The Gap and stock up. And each year it would pain me to shop there. I felt like such a fraud. Like it was going to cause one of my testicles to go rolling out of my pant leg. Because in my macho-bullshit mind, shopping there was somehow beneath me.
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| (totally not me walking out sans testicle) |
I'm going to make a bold statement here. I will never shop at The Gap again. Nothing against them...or against people who shop there, but it's not my bag.
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| (not my bag, baby!) |
I'm not white collar anymore. I'm blue collar. And I think people can smell it on me these days. I walk and work among the mechanics and men who have their names stitched on their clothing, and I'm one of them. I'm accepted and un-judged and unscarred.
I know that these are good folks, for the most part. These are the fellas (and there are a few girls I come in contact with that fall in this category) that'd buy me a beer, who treat me as an equal, who get by with the sweat of their brow. These are the people I feel more comfortable around these days after working my job than the teachers I spent 7 years with in my "career."
Back in some former life I put myself in a hairy, rough situation, and I learned really quickly that standing out isn't such a good thing. Belonging can save your ass. If you come across as the overly educated white guy from the suburbs when you need to look like someone who can take a punch or stand his ground...well, that can have a way of ostracizing you that isn't always pleasant.
I suppose the big revelation ('cause aren't you always supposed to hit with that in your conclusion paragraph?!) is that it's nice to be comfortable in your skin...to be comfortable in your place in the world. Even if it took you over 30 years to get there...even if it's not with summer's off anymore...even if it gives me shirts that have my name stitched to the tit...finding your niche is a lovely thing indeed.
Standing comfortable in your skin and who you are is a good, good thing.
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| (I'm in the very back if you look closely) |
Back in some former life I put myself in a hairy, rough situation, and I learned really quickly that standing out isn't such a good thing. Belonging can save your ass. If you come across as the overly educated white guy from the suburbs when you need to look like someone who can take a punch or stand his ground...well, that can have a way of ostracizing you that isn't always pleasant.
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| (Johnny Burden...the leader of polyester club) |
I suppose the big revelation ('cause aren't you always supposed to hit with that in your conclusion paragraph?!) is that it's nice to be comfortable in your skin...to be comfortable in your place in the world. Even if it took you over 30 years to get there...even if it's not with summer's off anymore...even if it gives me shirts that have my name stitched to the tit...finding your niche is a lovely thing indeed.
Standing comfortable in your skin and who you are is a good, good thing.
Yes, finding that place is pretty awesome! Even if it isn't where you always thought it would be.....
ReplyDeleteSuper Cass...exactly! I never thought I'd find myself on MANY of the roads I've been on. It all seems to have a way of working out for the best. It's not where you are, I guess...but WHO you are!
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