My Dad was about forty-one years old when I was born. He was older than my friends at school's fathers. He wasn't concerned about fashion. He didn't care about following and keeping up with the latest fad. My Dad's everyday outfit was work boots, a wife beater t-shirt, (Before they were called wife beaters), button up shirt, and blue and white striped overalls. He used to be a construction worker before he started his own business buying and selling livestock. The only difference in clothing between the two jobs was, when he worked construction he wore a silver hard hat with small dents in it and he carried a black lunch box.
My Dad had his reasons for wearing his overalls. One of his reasons when he worked construction was it had a hammer loop. A great place to store your hammer while you were carrying boards or doing other odd jobs around the worksite. Also, their was a pocket on the side where he always had a pair of pliers. How cool is that? Another reason he liked them was because you didn't have to wear a belt. A belt is another clothing accessory that he did not have to buy. Also, you don't have to worry about overalls falling down. They are held in place by two straps that go over both shoulders. I have noticed as I get older and rounder that I have more trouble keeping my pants up. Overalls would be a solution to that problem. The last reason that he liked his overalls was because it had a pocket in the top front. Dad always carried his billfold in it. This is a great idea also. I hate sitting on my billfold. Usually it is too thick to sit on comfortably. I usually have my credit and debit cards, library cards, insurance cards, receipts to keep, and two dollars cash. (On a good day.) This is enough stuff to make me lean to the left when I sit down. Dad did not have this problem.
I decided that my Dad was really smart. I could see why they were a perfect fit for him. I decided to follow in his footsteps and buy a pair of overalls. I had a few problems. I am a lot taller than my Dad. I am six foot tall and my Dad was five foot six. My overalls always felt a little too short from the crotch to the shoulders. Maybe I didn't have them adjusted quite right. Also, I could only wear my overalls on days when I wasn't working. I didn't have a job where I could wear what I wanted. I work at a grocery store and the dress code required shirt, tie, and khakis. The hammer loop was cool but I never used it.
I learned something from trying to dress and be like my Dad. I respected him but we were different. It is okay to be different. What works great for one person doesn't work for the next person. It doesn't make one person any cooler than the other person. We all got to be ourselves. Our own unique person. So when I finish this blog and go get ready for work. I will wear my khakis pants, with a button down collar dress shirt, with a twenty-five cent work tie that I bought at a garage sale last week. How cool is that? A Jerry Garcia tie for a quarter at a garage sale. So the bottom line is - Be yourself.