On an early morning it takes forever to tie a bow tie. While this is hyperbole, it does take me fully twenty minutes, as opposed to the negligible time spent tying a long tie. In the end, it's worth it - the finished product, after all, is a highly respectable piece of work that few people know how to do. As I was unfortunately soon to learn, that few was one fewer than I thought.
The knot is very stable. On each of my breaks I would straighten and sometimes tighten the knot, but retying was fortunately entirely unessential. After work I head to church. I serve in the children's ministry at the 5pm service, after which I attend the 7:15pm service.
Between services I see my friend Lacey. Lacey always appreciates my ties, especially as a former employee of several men's clothing stores, including Brooks Brothers. Fourteen hours into my day, the knot is still going strong. I look to Lacey's reaction with great anticipation.
"That's a very nice tie."
"Thank you."
"...you seem to be missing the bow though."
It was certainly tied in a knot. It seems this was even a semi-acceptable way to tie it. Unfortunately, it was still not correct. I took off my tie and allowed her to tie it for me. It looked and felt better, not to mention that it was a size that actually fit me. Furthermore, the shape of the untied tie itself actually made sense. Brilliant, simply brilliant.
Sitting in the foyer after church, she taught me the proper way to tie a bow tie by tying it on my leg. I then untied my leg bow and retied it. After this, I mustered my confidence and successfully tied it on my neck. Using a mirror to straighten, I was indeed wearing a bow tie, which I myself tied properly.
Like every week, I went out with group of people after church. This particular week's post-service gathering (PSG* for short) was at Romeo's Pizza. The pesto bread is delicious, and a great deal during happy hour for a mere $5. As I sat there, people repeatedly asked me to take off my bow tie and retie it. I was free entertainment. In retrospect, I should have put out a tip jar.
Repeated tyings were good practice. At one point I quipped that now that I can tie a bow tie I'm ready to get married - tux time. Time to tie the knot, if you will. True or not, it's a skill I'm glad to have in my repertoire. A gentleman can never know too many different ways to tie a tie, and I'm glad to officially be among the aforementioned bow tying few.
Writing about wearing a bow tie is almost as much fun as wearing a bow tie. Maybe someday I'll have enough bow tied adventures to fill a book, or at least a bow tie shaped coffee table book. For now though, this is the end of the bow tie blogging era. With these three nicely packaged posts, I will wrap things up and, as they say, put a bow** on it.
*For those who saw my tweet about PSG tonight and wondered, now you know.
**No, I don't mean a bird. Sorry Portland.
On an early morning it takes forever to tie a bow tie. While this is hyperbole, it does take me fully twenty minutes, as opposed to the negligible time spent tying a long tie. In the end, it's worth it - the finished product, after all, is a highly respectable piece of work that few people know how to do. As I was unfortunately soon to learn, that few was one fewer than I thought.
The knot is very stable. On each of my breaks I would straighten and sometimes tighten the knot, but retying was fortunately entirely unessential. After work I head to church. I serve in the children's ministry at the 5pm service, after which I attend the 7:15pm service.
Between services I see my friend Lacey. Lacey always appreciates my ties, especially as a former employee of several men's clothing stores, including Brooks Brothers. Fourteen hours into my day, the knot is still going strong. I look to Lacey's reaction with great anticipation.
"That's a very nice tie."
"Thank you."
"...you seem to be missing the bow though."
It was certainly tied in a knot. It seems this was even a semi-acceptable way to tie it. Unfortunately, it was still not correct. I took off my tie and allowed her to tie it for me. It looked and felt better, not to mention that it was a size that actually fit me. Furthermore, the shape of the untied tie itself actually made sense. Brilliant, simply brilliant.
Sitting in the foyer after church, she taught me the proper way to tie a bow tie by tying it on my leg. I then untied my leg bow and retied it. After this, I mustered my confidence and successfully tied it on my neck. Using a mirror to straighten, I was indeed wearing a bow tie, which I myself tied properly.
Like every week, I went out with group of people after church. This particular week's post-service gathering (PSG* for short) was at Romeo's Pizza. The pesto bread is delicious, and a great deal during happy hour for a mere $5. As I sat there, people repeatedly asked me to take off my bow tie and retie it. I was free entertainment. In retrospect, I should have put out a tip jar.
Repeated tyings were good practice. At one point I quipped that now that I can tie a bow tie I'm ready to get married - tux time. Time to tie the knot, if you will. True or not, it's a skill I'm glad to have in my repertoire. A gentleman can never know too many different ways to tie a tie, and I'm glad to officially be among the aforementioned bow tying few.
Writing about wearing a bow tie is almost as much fun as wearing a bow tie. Maybe someday I'll have enough bow tied adventures to fill a book, or at least a bow tie shaped coffee table book. For now though, this is the end of the bow tie blogging era. With these three nicely packaged posts, I will wrap things up and, as they say, put a bow** on it.
*For those who saw my tweet about PSG tonight and wondered, now you know.
**No, I don't mean a bird. Sorry Portland.
The Bow Tie Pt 3: Tying the Knot
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