Express yourself!

I was at Local Coffee on Sonterra Blvd the other day. The barista behind the counter was wearing a shirt with a HUGE wolf face on it's front. I could tell she was enjoying wearing the wolf so I started a wolf-shirt-wearing conversation. She lit up! She had a story to tell about a special someone who gave it to her. The wolf carried memories of the fun they had together. She also said the wolf's face even resembled the face of that special human friend. Ha! She was quirky. :)

Later, I told Jared how I had enjoyed the barista-wolf conversation. She was so unafraid of expressing herself. He looked confused. "How is that self-expression? What does that mean? What is a wolf shirt expressing about her?" Then it was my turn to feel confused. What was it about the wolf shirt that was self expression? People classify themselves through dress all of the time. Business people express that they're business people by wearing suits and ties. Athletes wear track suits and sneakers. Youth pastors and musicians wear skinny jeans. (These two professions seem to be the only ones that try to pull that one off.) Teachers wear...teacher clothes. And artsy people often wear quirky clothing, or all black, or for some reason cut short bangs. There's nothing really creative about any of these uniforms. They're expressions of professions. Thing is, I don't think the barista was wearing the wolf to identify herself with a certain class of people or an occupation, or even an interest in wildlife. No, she didn't look like everyone or anyone else. Wolf-shirt-girl and I made a connection all because she chose to show something of herself, something original, something that meant something to her, something she enjoyed. Simple as that. I enjoyed her openness to share. This skin-deep blog entry is just me trying to say that beauty and connection happen when people express themselves unashamedly and authentically, as opposed to flaunting a sort of uniform or costume.

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I bought Jared a sweatshirt for Christmas. It has a huge guitar on the chest.