Daughter #1 has been traveling for some time. She thoughtfully brought a gift home for me. The tiny gift is a rock from the Mississippi River. You know that I always ask people to “bring me a rock,” because I so rarely travel these days, and it’s fun to get rocks from all over the world. Croatia. Australia. India. Germany. To name a few out-of-country places.

She also brought a bright pink tee shirt from one of our favorite book stores in Appleton, Wisconsin. The Book Store (clever – right) sells used books, as well as new. The front of the shirt has the stores name, but the back is clever. It says, “Shop local – Read used books – Save the earth.” Pink is my favorite color, and “save the earth” is a great thought! I think I will be wearing this shirt a lot!

Standing in front of me in the checkout line at the grocers was a quite large man in a tee shirt. The front of his shirt said, “you are enough.” The back of the shirt, and this was what caught my eye first, was “Dear person behind me, the world is better with you in it; the world needs you.” My hope is that anyone standing behind him at any time will read that, and it will make his or her day.

I have lots of tee shirst from so many different places – inside of and outside of the United States. I have a wardrobe of tee shirts from a wonderful coffee and food location in Nebraska. My tee shirt wardrobe from Lasso Espresso in Gothenburg, Nebraska,  includes pink, green, black, blue, white, grey, red, and purple. I love wearing those tee shirts. Passersby will often point at the shirt and, then, point to themselves. Kindred spirits. The tee shirts say, “Instant Human, Just Add Coffee.”

Neighbors Keith and Rita were in Croatia some time ago. My tee shirt from there has a heart design as the pillow-lace (or bobbin lace) that is done so beautifully there. They were also kind enough to bring a shirt from Canyon de Chelley; with, of course, an image of a part of the canyon.

Years ago, Larry and I frequented a chocolate shop, owned by a transplanted German. He came to the U.S. and landed in Wisconsin, a sports-related reason. However, that wasn’t to be, and he arrived in the Denver area. In Germany, he had apprenticed to a chocolatier; he made chocolates for more than fifty years in his two shops – the first on East Colfax and the second on East Evans Avenues. His chocolate shop that we frequented was Deitrich’s Chocolates located close to our house.

At the time we visited there most, I was retired and caring for a young boy Sam. We would take him with us to Deitrich’s for breakfast. Sam knew exactly where his food would come from to arrive at the table. If the food that came from the kitchen did not come to his table, he was not happy! Cheerios helped to keep that in check, however. When his food arrived, he ate it with gusto!

The tee shirt from Deitrich’s has a huge chunk of chocolate on the front and says “Give me all of you chocolate and nobody gets hurt!” I only have one of those tee shirts left after all of these years.

When I couldn’t find a tee shirt with an expression that I liked, I made my own. “Life hurts; chocolate helps.” is one of them. The design includes all things chocolate – candy, cupcakes, cake, etc. I learned to use fabric paints to get them finished. I should state here that I believe chocolate is the eighth food group!

Tee shirts are a summer clothing option for me. Winters here are usually too cool for me to go without long sweater sleeves. So, my enjoyment of tee shirts is confined to times when the weather allows me to wear them. Every color of the rainbow hangs in my closet and sets the stage for that spring-to-fall wearing. I really enjoy wearing them. Now, if I could only find one with a Martian in a helmet saying, “Take me to your chocolate leader!”

I wonder what my next favorite tee shirt will be, and what it will say to others as they walk by.

Be Safe and Be Well
The Cranky Crone
Thoughtful comments are always welcome.