List 7 - Ten Reasons You Should Love Tie Dye

The Friday list is back, and this list comes from the heart - my heart.   Apparently, there is a good chance I was born in the wrong decade, for I seem to dress from another one.  I don't necessarily attribute this love to any particular movement, though I do love the idea of peace and I'm ready to see a little of it for my children and the rest of the world.

I just love it!  It makes me happy, and after doing a bit of research, it appears that dying fabric has been making people happy since before the birth of Christ.  Ancient Asian cultures have tie-dyed for centuries.   For goodness sakes, people, if you haven't jumped on the band wagon yet, it's TIME!

Here's a list to help you over the hump.  There are more good points, but I'll keep the item total to ten.  Some of these aid me in my defense when folks giggle about my donning the look - go ahead, friends, I can take it.  I guess I'm really groovy and far out because my love keeps getting deeper.

I had a grand laugh this summer about tie-dyed shirts.  Picture this - I'm in a conversation with a couple of new friends at a church conference center and we are discussing the upcoming 'adult only tie dye class' slated for that evening.  They are giddy with giggles about the fact that they, two grown women, are actually going to make a tie-dyed shirt.  I don't really get what's so funny about it.  We continue the conversation.  This is when I knew, really knew, that maybe I feel differently about wearing tie-dye.  This is when I knew that maybe I'm a little different.  One of them leaned in close and barely whispered, "My little grandson makes me one at camp every year, and one day at tennis I actually wore it when I was walking off the court!  Can you believe that?  The other ladies just loved it.  Oh, me, me."  Hmmm.  Things that make you go, "hmmmmm."  Was I to admit, there on the spot, that half of my clothes are t-shirts and half of my t-shirts are tie-dyed?  Is this normal?  Am I okay?

Well, time has passed and I've given the topic a good deal of thought.  I've figured it out.  I'm perfectly normal and people who don't understand the need for tie-dyed clothing are not.   To follow is a primer, a little help for those of you who still don't get it.  As usual, this is but some of the reasons and they are in no particular order.  There are only a few of us who really understand, and I would be remiss if I did not dedicate this blog post to my good friend, Dan Walden.  Dan is a brother in the fight to make tie-dye the official national clothing and he wears it well.

And so . . .

Ten Reasons You Should Love Tie Dye

1. People who wear tie-dye are nice.  Don't you want to be nice?
2. Tie-dye is an art-form, but it is also fool-proof.  Just as no two tie-dyes are exactly the same, no tie-dye project can be messed up.
3. It is fun to do tie-dye and it makes people sing, smile, giggle and laugh.  
4. When you do real tie-dye, your fingers change color for a few days and that leads to many opportunities for you to spread the word about how very cool you are.
5. You can give a kid, any kid, anything that has been tie-dyed and they will instantly love you.  They will completely change their mind about how they first saw you and forever and ever look at you with renewed coolness.
6. Apparently, it takes courage to wear tie-dye, so people who do so are strong, able-bodied folks who meet the challenges of this life head on. 
7. The family who tie-dyes together, stays together.  
8. Tie-dying takes patience and time.  It takes care and consideration.  It is not a quick process and should not be hurried.  One must enter a reflective, artistic, thoughtful place to commence tie-dying, and one will be terribly proud at the finished product.  
9. Tie-dying is for people of all ages.  My ninety two year old grandmother tie-dyes with us at the beach each summer (I'm not sure she has ever been spotted in her finished products; I'll get on that.) and little tiny people can do it, too.  Even if they can't use a rubber band or tie a knot, they can be perfect directors about where such knots should be placed.  
10. Tie-dyed shirts make people happy.  Sometimes they can even make you look happy while you are waiting for the happiness to set in, giving folks the outward sign that you are happy and that smiling should begin when you are seen.  

I can but hope that readers will add their own reasons to the list and that we can build an on-going list about why the world should pay better attention.  

Make peace, love everybody, be happy, have a nice day and the rest, friends.  It's all good.