This Too Shall Wear Pants
Monday, March 3rd, 2008
I wanted to blog on psychology tonight. It’s been a weird couple of days as I’ve been suffering a bad cough and visiting with my parents and extended family. Every time I hang out with my parents I remember certain stories of my life growing up. The “wear pants” one is a classic and definitely blogworthy. This story will probably give you some insight as to why my blog’s title has the funny farm in it. No, I’m just kidding. My parents were and are the best. But sometimes they were quite direct with me. Too direct? You be the judge.
Around age 11 I was really into surf shorts. At that time, about 1981, Stubbies and OP shorts were all the rage. They were quite expensive but my parents were able to buy some for me. I’ll never forget how “stoked” I was to get those! Well, stoked that is until one day when something happened …
A girl I thought was cute told me on the playground one day: “You have knobby knees.” eek. I was crushed. When I got home that night I whined to my mom about what she said and played the pity party violin for a good long session. When I was done my mom simply said:
Wear pants.
How could she! How unfeeling! Shouldn’t she apologize about my DNA? These are the sorts of thoughts that ran through my mind. But I’ve grown to appreciate her advice in grown up life.
When I’m tempted to whine about things or whimper or murmur, etc., I tell myself “Wear pants.” It’s a short phrase and it has tons of meaning for me. If I get worried or upset or other negative emotion about something, I can summon this phrase. The truth is, my legs weren’t knobby forever. Like then, most troubles are fleeting. As the saying goes: “This too shall pass.” So, how about this as a slightly altered “Funny Farm” phrase coined here officially tonight: “This too shall wear pants.” ;)
Do you have a memory you’ve made into a phrase?
