As a kid, I was pretty shy. In junior high school, it was an ongoing goal of mine to NOT stand out in the crowd but to blend in. Which made it pretty odd that one day while clothes shopping with my mom I saw this awesome pair of red pants. Bright red. Fire engine red. You could see them a mile away. These were designed to make one stand out in a crowd. Up to this point, my wardrobe mostly consisted of blue jeans and athletic shorts, with maybe a pair or two of dress pants for Sunday School.
I told mom I wanted them. I thought there were some of the coolest pants I’d ever seen and had to have them.
Junior high school is a nutty time of life, exceeded only by high school in some ways. Crazy mid-adolescence, cheerleader crushes, chaperoned dances, the whole thing.
I had new red pants to wear and I wanted to do it! But when I wore them, I didn’t think they were the coolest pair of pants I’d ever seen. In fact, I imagined everyone staring at me. I felt so self-conscious I couldn’t handle it. If I ever wore those cool red pants again, I don’t remember it.
I suppose I could draw some parallels between red pants and tradeshow marketing but you could probably do it better. I just figured the story was worth sharing. You should know what you’re getting into before putting on red pants.
Lesson learned: I still dress pretty conservatively today except for the half-dozen tie-dye shirts I have, but hey, I like tie-dye!
Someday remind me to tell you about the platform shoes I owned in the 9th grade.
