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| #41 - Design an Article of Clothing |
The 2011 Bucket List is one that was strategically put
together. What seemed like a hypothetical and impending
schedule of wedding plans, apartment hunting, and basically beginning a
new chapter of my life, several easy-to-reach tasks were added. With
this new chapter beginning in my life, the things and activities of the
past are becoming less frequent, and some are being eliminated altogether.
With that, the addition of those easy-to-reach activities were child-hood activities to
simply have that one-last hurrah.
One of the tasks meant to give that nostalgic last hurrah was: #41 - Design an article of clothing.
Remember
the days when clothes and fashion were not earth shattering decision?
No? Well maybe it was a guy thing. Or maybe it was just me. My very limited
wardrobe
consisted of the following: basketball shorts,
sweatpants, t-shirts, hoodies, baseball hats and sneakers. Of course
there were others necessities, but these items made up most of my
everyday attire. And honestly, if not for a job and the thought of
having to appear as a self-sufficient respectable adult, I would
probably still wear those items everywhere.
As a child, I had a habit of taking old t-shirts and writing weird and crazy messages on them. The t-shirts where usually discolored or somewhat unrepresentable from wear and tear. Whether it be for a football game against another neighborhood, a basketball game on our block, a political joke to rile up my mother, or a quip remark for a wrestling event (something I've done countless times), using a design or words on my shirts were a weird way of me expressing myself in humor. I guess it was twitter for my body many years before the 140 character phenomenon came about.
With that said, I
wanted to do it one more time. At 26 years of age, it's sort of
difficult to do such things any more, even if I had the time, and quite
honestly, I'm not sure if it's as funny for a grown adult to do such a
thing. When you are 15, six foot two, and rail thin with an Afro, it's humorous. If
you are 26, six foot five' and bald, yeah, not so much. It just weird.
Nonetheless,
with marriage on the horizon, the glimmer of childhood light within me
was at the point of being extinguished forever.
And to be quite honest, this task was too easy not to ask complete
While
on our timeout in St. Lucia, the tag-team partner and I had the
opportunity to make a Tie-dye shirt. Something I've never
done, but also an opportunity to have some fun while accomplishing this
child-like task of mine.
In doing so, I eventually designed a shirt with specific colors (and shockingly no written messages). Blue. Yellow. Green. The colors of St. Vincent and the Grenadines - the country where my parents are from.
And although the process of designing a shirt was fun again, the symbolism of designing such a shirt and returning to my roots is that much greater. So all in all, a blast to the past, while designing something that will forever remind me of who I am.
In doing so, I eventually designed a shirt with specific colors (and shockingly no written messages). Blue. Yellow. Green. The colors of St. Vincent and the Grenadines - the country where my parents are from.
And although the process of designing a shirt was fun again, the symbolism of designing such a shirt and returning to my roots is that much greater. So all in all, a blast to the past, while designing something that will forever remind me of who I am.
# 41 complete. Boom.