Shoe Personality of the Week: 7/12/2010

Intricate details move me. The placement of this and that. The shade of a color we normally associate with primary being tweaked just so making it a part of a whole other rainbow. The aromas released from exotic spices. The patterns in anything. The words chosen, or not.

Every day we have nonverbal conversations with each other. Sometimes our messages are as haphazard as we look or feel on any given morning. Other times our voices are loud and clear with forethought. Others of us haven’t traveled inward to truly understand who we are in order to make a presentation in the 1st place.

Some time ago, past what adults think, I realized that my students learned to translate the hieroglyphs of my emotions based on how I dressed each day, what my hair was doing. Some of their 7-year old assumptions were wrong; thinking it was a bad day for me because the Wild & Wooly (aka the fro) was out vs. the usual braids or twists. This early in the game they already believe wholeheartedly in hot combs and Just For Me relaxer kits. They had to be taught that the fro was on purpose, to show them that how we come is just fine. They also mistook my dress up days as me having to leave them eventually to go to a funeral. Their affinity for nose-picking, full body food coverage, and inability to control chalk and markers made dressing up fairly unnecessary and so they had no context for it. The point is, what I said outside determined what they assumed was going on inside.

Dressing with intentionality.

These days, even when I’m running errands, my “sweats” are coordinated. The shoes bring it together, and I never leave out without my trademark earrings. Everything I put on depicts a mood, present or desired; a goal; a purpose. When I wake up feeling like I don’t have it to give, I dress as though I do. When things around me feel stagnant, I lighten the mood and change my hair color. Again. And when the Wild & Wooly is out, watch out ‘cause I’m down for whatever!!

The story of who you are is hidden within the finer details woven into your life’s tapestry. Take a moment to run your fingers over it, trace the bumps and the lines. Are there beads, jewels, threads of gold? Do your patterns please you or is it time to trade in your loom for a newer model? In the end, it has only got to please you.

In the words of a beautiful and ever wise former student,

Take me as I am or watch me as I go.

Hopefully our tapestries are the making of more beginnings than endings; but that’s totally up to the individual.

How will you move?