"cool"...

today i got a phone call from my mom...on the other line i heard this:

"will you please tell your brother (he is 14) that there are other backpacks that are cool besides jansport, they have so many cool backpacks everywhere and all he wants is a jansport."

i was instantly brought back to my teenage years...and i felt for my brother, knowing that my mom had argued the same thing with me...

"tonya, this shirt is cool, i bet half of the girls will be wearing this shirt..."
"no mom, it's not, and no one will" (which was true)

and so i replied to my mom this way:

"mom, get the kid a jansport, they are cool, he won't be cool without one..."

and she replied:

"why would he care about what is cool? he should get what he likes, why would you want to be like everyone else?"

and i replied, " mom he can figure out his likes in other ways, just let him be cool". she gave in.

i hung up the phone, and then i thought about it...

my mom always pushed me to think out of the box when i was growing up, she didn't go to my school, she didn't always know what was "cool", but she always encouraged us to think in our own way, and not how everyone else does...

because of this, i may not have had lucky jeans growing up, i may not have always been the coolest of kids on the block...but i was able to grow into myself. and i am thankful for that.

so thanks mom, for not always letting me get what was "cool" and helping me to figure out my own "cool"...even if it wasn't always on purpose, and even though i may not have talked to you for a day here or there.

so here is what i called my brother back to say: "tanner, i know jansports are cool, and you are safe if you get one, but i also know that the coolest of kids decide their own cool, even if it isn't always the popular thing to do...so get what you like, cool or not, as long as it is what you like."

thanks mom.