My T-shirt has a First Name

We have a vast array of T-shirts in this house because the kids are involved in lots of different activities. I'm not even sure if the kids go to their activities anymore or if they just wear different T-shirts to throw me off-kilter like their father tried to do when we were first married:

Me: (curious) "Rich where did you get that T-shirt?"
Rich: "Oh, my brother sent it to me. I didn't run this race."
Me: "Then why would you wear the shirt?"
Rich: (patiently, as if he is talking to two year old) "Because it's a Teeee-shirt"
Me: (looking at him like he's stupid) "What the ???? What does that have to do with anything? You didn't run the race. Why would you wear the shirt?"
Rich: Explains guys, T-shirts, and how no woman can or should ever interfere with such a sacred bond.

Don't get me wrong, I understand the thrill of the T-shirt. It tells the world that, for a moment, for a season, for a part of your life, you were bigger than something than just yourself. No one can take that pride, that sense of accomplishment, or that T-shirt away from you.

Let me empahsize: NO.ONE.CAN.TAKE.AWAY.THE.T-SHIRT.

Rich (along with some other men who I will not name, except for Mark K.) will not give up their T-shirts. This has to be male chromosome deficiency that science has yet to figure out...the "I can't part with my T-shirt's and you can't make me" gene. I have no other logical explanation for why otherwise reasonably well dressed men cling to remnants of cotton that tell life stories that are not necessarily their own.

Even the T-shirts that do brag of an accomplishment, a race run, a milestone reached, should do so with pride, not looking ratty, dirty, holey, nasty, ill-fitting, and smelly to boot.

I have tried to make the arguement that you are dishonoring the T-shirt when you wear it in such a manner. However, that is female point of view. Boys never change: Dirtier is better. The kids with the biggest mudhole wins. Same goes for the T-shirt wars. Rip It. Shred It. Get Paint On It. It's a T-shirt. It can take it.

Rich has passed his T-shirt addiction down to the boys:

Jump off a 250 foot cliff? Are you crazy? No way....Free t-shirts? We're in!

We'll have the T-shirts to prove it.

Dirty Laundry

Folding laundry is no small chore in this house. Especially since my husband passed down his love of T-shirts to our children. I cannot separate what activities my kids have joined because they truly wanted to join them or because, much like their father, they were seduced by the offer of the free T-shirt.

So, when I was folding the clothes this week, I thought it would be a cool thing to list all things that we live for at the Tolbert house:

So here I go:

Football is life. (Stevens Point Youth/UWSP/Pitt/Penn State/Packers/Badgers/Steelers)
Soccer is life.
Baseball is life.
Dance is life.
Wrestling is life.
Mission Trips are life.
Redeemer Lutheran Church is life.
Running is Life.
Tiger Track/Racing is Life.
South Dakota is Life.
Chocolate is Life.
Emy J's is life. (Stevens Point coffee shop...Personally, I think it makes life me more bearable so I can life a more full life, but that's my honest opinion.)
Buffalo Wild Wings is life.
Princesses are life.
Karate is life.
Theater is life.

We are a busy, active group over here doing a lot living. A lot of loving. And we have the T-shirts to prove it!