To Brighten The Day

Today I want talk about something fun and shiny and YELLOW!

I own this yellow t-shirt you see. It's bright yellow. No, it's brighter than bright yellow. It's so yellow you can't look at it long enough to decide whether it is that yellow, or maybe might have some green in it. It definitely resembles a high lighter.

Now, I know you're asking: "Where in the world did you get that shirt Jimmer, and why in the world are you talking about it, much less wearing it in public?"

Well the answer to the latter question is because the shirt is fun. It reminds me of spring, and it makes me feel warm.

The answer to the former question? Well, it's also fun.

The shirt comes from an organization called Fishing Has No Boundaries.

This is one of the organizations The MJB Foundation shared our Joy with last year by donating funds for their younger participants to fish in their annual outing.

On the day of their festivities, we visited their outing where we received these beautiful t-shirts given to event sponsors.

Well, who doesn't like swag right? We proudly put our t-shirts on, and took a trip around the lake.

It was an awesome sight. Fishermen and Fisherwomen of all ages were having a great time. There were volunteers helping with the fishing. We probably saw at least 10 boats in different spots on the (Hoover) reservoir.

Afterward, we took some pictures and went to, well we went to visit Grandma & Grandpa.

But we still had the shirts!

K and D wear their shirts to sleep in. (No, they don't glow in the dark.) I don't think Netter has worn her shirt after that first day.

Ah, but I have.





I first broke it out for our annual family trip to The Ohio State Fair. My nieces and nephew LOVED it! Okay, they had fun with it. Well, they laughed at me and said I looked like I could fit in with the fair workers.

They're so mean to their Uncle Jimmy aren't they?

I think the shirt looked great for our race down the giant slide. (Yes, we take over the whole slide - only for one trip though.)

Next I wore the shirt to a poker-party. I don't think I won, but I did create enough distraction to at least win a few hands. - Maybe.

Finally, I wore the shirt to work. I like to wear t-shirts to work, but you can't just wear any old raggedy t-shirt you know?

I think the t-shirt you wear to work, (if you can wear t-shirts to work) has to fit some criteria i.e. it should be new(er), and fit well, and if it has a message emblazoned, (Ooh possible future WOTD?) on it it should be something appropriate and non-offensive.

Well what's offensive about Fishing Has No Boundaries? So one day all of my library shirts were in the laundry, but I wanted to wear a t-shirt to work. As they say in France.

C'est Un Voila (That's all the French I know)

We had a lot of fun that first day. A co-worker told me I was blinding him and wondered aloud aloud why my wife let me out of the house in this shirt. I said something to the effect of, "You know I have four of these in my house. I could wear 4 in a row, a whole weeks worth." He just smirked and said - please don't do that. (That's not an exact quote, but it's close) The humor of the day continued. A customer asked if I was doing some traffic control work on the side.

More than a few folks remarked about how I was brightening their day. As I said - fun!

I waited a few weeks and wore the shirt again. The same co-worker said again that I was blinding him, and again wondered aloud why my wife let me out of the house in this shirt. I repeated what I had said before - "You know I have four of these in my house. I could wear 4 in a row. One for every day we work together next week." Only this time...

My co-worker said, "I dare you to wear that shirt four days in a row."

Ever play the game Truth or Dare as a kid?

Yeah, me too. Of course I was always the kid who thought that the game Truth or Dare was two words too long. The heck with Truth and or...

Give me Dare!

Yeah, that made for some interesting stories, scary experiences, and gruesome tales over the years, but it also showed me along the way that you really never know about something until you actually try it.

Ironically enough, when I think about things I might be dared to do in this day and age, I can tell you right now:

I'm not bungee jumping. I'm not cliff diving. I'm not sky diving, and I sure as heck am not going skiing.

This is me, remember - I am afraid to drive in the snow. Ski on it? Are you crazy?

Still that doesn't mean there aren't some things I won't do, especially if I think I might have a lot of fun in the process.

So I wore the shirt every day that my co-worker and I worked together the next week.

I even made it my Facebook, and Twitter profile picture for the week. What do you think?

I know this - no one's ever gonna call me yellow!

As you might suspect, I too am sick of the yellow shirt. All four have been laundered and sit at the bottom of a basket. My co-workers can safely keep their sun glasses in their cars, and I can look at myself in the mirror without going blind.

That doesn't mean I won't break the shirts out again though.

After all, wearing the yellow shirt is always so much fun!