I was watching the kids “warm up” before class and something caught my eye. They were out on the floor practicing and stretching. I noticed one of the students uniforms was a little more faded than the rest. This really isn’t extraordinary or surprising. Parents try to get as much mileage out of a uniform as possible before the kid is completely incapable of wearing it. This one just looked a little faded. They probably were at the end of their useful life. The mom was a good friend and I decided to talk to her after class.
The class went well and I my obsession with uniforms drifted from thought. At the end of the class I watched them leave and noticed the contrasting uniform.
I went up to the mom, a bit nervous. Who likes to tell a mom their son is wearing a warn out uniform? Not me and I’ve been doing this for nearly ten years.
I approached her and stumbled into saying, “About [insert name here]’s uniform . . .”
“Has he grown out if it already?” she asked.
“No, it isn’t that. It’s just a little . . . faded.”
Her eyes looked to the heavens above. “Where did he get that one? Probably just pulled it out of any old pile.”
At this time he walked up and the mother looked at her son for a second. Then she asked, “What are you wearing?”
The kid looked a little guilty, but not much. After all, he had almost gotten out the door.
“Are those your trousers?”
He just smiled as the mother and I took a closer look. Sure enough they were just plain pants that looked almost, but not quite, like uniform pants.
Any thoughts about a lecture about the proper uniform or appropriate dress while wearing your belt simply evaporated.
No comments:
Post a Comment