My mother dressed me for the winter when I was young. This meant the standard fat jacket with a thick wool sweater. My mittens attached to my sleeves with little ingenious clips so you wouldn’t lose them (I wish I could find those now, I would definitely use them). A knitted hat pulled over my eyebrows and finally a muffler. My mother called it a muffler so I’m not sure that’s what it’s actually called because whenever I use that term now people find it amusing.
The mufflers she had for us were uncommonly long. And I don’t think that was solely because I was smaller back then. They were at least 6 feet if not longer. They were also always knitted out of the thickest yarn available with long shaggy tassels at both ends. After playing out in the snow for a while, the yarn where your nose and mouth were would get damp from condensation and have that wooly smell. She would wrap the muffler around our necks 3, 4, 5, 6 times, however many times until she could tuck the last part in. Then she rolled us outside and we were off building igloos, fortresses and ice palaces.
To this day, I can’t figure out how to wear a scarf in the winter. It seems extremely intricate and complex to me and I can’t seem to get it to fit like my mother used to wrap it. It’s not uncommon for friends to come up to me and readjust my scarf because it’s either hanging off one side of my neck, or my neck is wrapped but my chest is exposed. Whenever I try to wear one, it eventually ends up on the floor because it just doesn’t stay on.
Of the many problems in life, this is paltry and perhaps even trivial. Considering the life experiences I’ve had and the many skills I carry, one would imagine putting on a silly scarf would be inconsequential. However, after years of winters, it is one thing I have not yet mastered.
Last winter, my older sister found a solution of sorts by knitting me an ingeniously designed scarf that is shaped like a flat donut. No wrapping or tying necessary. I just pull it over my head. But it’s more for decoration than for function, so I still need to learn how to wear a scarf correctly.
I try. I do try to wear scarves, and acquire them whenever I see ones I am drawn to. Do I need 10 scarves? No. Especially when I haven’t even figured out how to don one of them correctly. So on Day 48 of my 365 Release, I am letting go of a scarf as the cold months approach. I held onto it because some items you believe you will use one day. That does not necessarily mean, however, that you need to use it one day.
1 thought on “YK’s 365 Release: Day 48”