I have known people who have an aversion to people who post pictures and notes on their refrigerator. My family would not be considered in that group. We have everything from Christmas cards, to reminders, to fortunes from fortune cookies. We have favorite sayings and ticket stubs of a recently watched concert. The façade of our refrigerator is simply a snap shot of our lives.
On one of the doors there is a Christmas card that was given to us as a gag gift. My friend had taken pictures at a cocktail party and while doing this took pictures of herself hugged up to each husband holding their tie in her hand. If you knew my friend, you would get the humor. She then created her own Christmas cards with each of these men and sent them to their homes. I happen to love the picture because my husband always wears an easy smile when he is with her, when he normally will not smile well for a picture.
Well, in this picture which I am now glad we have for memory's sake, Clay is wearing his favorite tie. It is light blue with golden specks and is relatively new. Because he has to wear ties to work, I am always looking for some affordable but nice ties that brighten up his otherwise very exciting wardrobe of khaki pants and white button downs.
He came home this week and propped up his feet. Like a little boy he cut his eyes at me and said, "Well, I lost my favorite tie today." I was prepared to hear a story about him fixing someone's car or changing a tire and ruining the tie. He never takes anything off when he is doing a messy job. But the story was quite different.
Before I begin, I must tell you that my husband cannot stand any public attention. He freaks out if he is singled out. And if people come up and talk to us that we don't know he gets uncomfortable. Something he has tried to handle with me because I will talk to a fence post that has serial killer eyes. An argument we have often.
So, as my husband is shopping at the grocery store after work this day a young adult male who was special needs came running up to him and grabbed his tie. The mother brought him back to her buggy, but on the next aisle he did the same thing going on and on rather loudly. On the third occasion I can only imagine my husband's nervousness. The boy would not let go of his tie so he asked the boy if he wanted the tie and the boy said that he did. So, my unassuming husband took it off and put it on the boy. Knowing my husband he did this in the hopes that he could go back to his very quiet unassuming life.
That didn't happen. The young man was so thankful for the gift that he continued to stay and shop with my husband. You would just have to know how shy my husband is to see the humor in the situation. I would have given the boy Clay's tie but made him give me his hat and we would have played Simon Says in the aisle. But I'm a teacher.
I am very proud of my husband for handling what could have been an uncomfortable situation with the calmness he could muster. I'm proud of him for surviving being the center of the entire store's attention. On this day he was indeed tested and I would say he certainly passed the test!
Wow, that tie has seen quite a lot of excitement! No wonder it is his favorite or I guess I should say “was”.
