Dorky Stuff Gets Cool With Age

As I get older, things I used to think were incredibly dorky are now incredibly cool (to me at least).

As a kid in southern California, I took pride in my soccer uniform, my baseball uniform, and even my green and white 4-H uniform. Apparently in California, you still have to wear these ridiculous outfits to show your livestock project in 4-H. Let’s make kids get dressed up in shiny white clothes right before they have to lead their “clean” show animals into a ring!  Great idea.  I think Clorox-funded the whole thing. It’s no surprise that there are surprisingly few images of these 4-H uniforms on the internet.   But I digress.

They will change clothes the minute they are out of the show ring.

In addition to the 4-H uniform, there was another uniform that I didn’t understand at all: the Boy Scout uniform.  As a grade school kid, I could not comprehend why you should have to dress up in an outfit with a scarf and patches to go camping.  It made no sense whatsoever.  My dad and I were into sports and 4-H, not Scouts.  I was never anti-Scout, just anti-dorky-Scout-Uniform.

Until my son Brody got his Tiger Cub Scout uniform today.

That's a proud Tiger Cub

As a father, it’s awesome to see your son excited and proud. To Brody, than new uniform represented something that big kids get to do.  Something special.  Something his younger brothers are too young for.  I’ll be ordering a matching hat and shirt for myself pretty soon.

My opinion on Scout uniforms shifting from extremely lame to supremely cool got me thinking… What other things in my life have made the lame-to-cool transition as I’ve gotten older?  Specifically, what would have been a complete waste of time to me as a child or teenager, but I now find increasingly valuable and enjoyable.

Here’s what made my “Dorky-to-Cool” List:

1. Rest

2. Gardening

3. Instrumental Music

4. Silence

5. Disco and Funk Music

6. Other People’s Ideas

7. Just Relaxing With God

What makes your “dorky-to-cool” list? Leave a comment here on my FB.

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