HE SAID: Silly Bandz

I do get it…at least to a point.  And I say that because I am a 28 year old man (somewhat debatable, not the 28 year old part, but the man part) that does indeed wear a single silly band.  If I may, allow me a brief explanation of how it came to be that a lime green 4 leaf clover is around my wrist as I type.

I taught tennis to a bunch of kids this summer. As has always been the case, kids freaking love me (let that be a note to any single females looking for a baby daddy), and as such, these kids couldn’t get their silly bandz off their wrist quick enough to give them to me.  At first, I laughed them off, and then I realized how upset they were that I wasn’t accepting their gift.  So, I started taking come choice ones…a guitar here, and neon yellow duck there…and before you know it, I had about twenty on my wrist – that I would only wear while teaching the kids.

By the end of the camp, I started using them as leverage to get the kids to work a bit harder: “make five forehands in a row, get a silly band” or “pick up the fu*&ing balls for once and get a silly band.” And so, when my teaching days were over my collection had dwindled, a few of which I gave away, but I couldn’t bring myself to give away the 4 leaf clover.  Now of course, if I had been so lucky to obtain a star of David (anyone know if they make those?) that would have been the one I kept.  It’s been on my wrist non-stop since late June, and the basic fact is I really like it.

Will it remain on my wrist this weekend at a wedding? Not likely. But as I said at the top…I do get it.  I got into them because it was a way for me to connect with kids, and not in the way your creepy uncle connects with them (sorry, a bit off color, but I was getting too serious).  And admittedly I still wear it because it is a bit of a fad, but I’ll never get into silly bandz the way my cowriter is describing.  I will not trade with other adults, I will note obtain any more (well, star of David aside), and I will certainly not wear it at some trendy club in NYC, mainly because I will never enter one.  But, sappy as though it might seem, when some kid asks me what silly band I have when they notice it, I think that’s pretty sweet.