Tie-brary

One of my friends, Ron, is another connoisseur of ties, like me. I say this, tongue-in-cheek. Quantity and variety doesn’t mean quality.  Ron just likes all types of ties and as a nursing supervisor I had a large number as well, especially ones for the different holidays. I wore them to brighten the day of fellow employees, patients, and visitors.
I suggested that we combine our inventory of ties and rent them out, calling it a tie-brary.

Ron’s ties ran to the Looney Tune genre, with Bugs Bunny, Pepe Le pew, Foghorn Leghorn, etc. He also had ties that came from the “way-back” machine; wide with bold stripes and prints. They were the classic ties from the yesteryear.

My tie collection totaled about seventy-five. That included narrow ones, wide classic ones, and various ones that I had to buy for weddings, etc.  I had some that were handmade, some that were given to me, and very special. My ties range from a narrow olive drab tie to wide ties of stars and stripes. The ties I had the most difficulty finding were for Easter and Thanksgiving. My Easter tie was done with a myriad of colored eggs in bright pink, blue, green, and yellow. The closest ties that I could find for Thanksgiving were one tie of wheat sheaves, one with harvest vegetables, one with sunflowers, and two with autumn leaves.

I had a Halloween tie covered with black cats and jack o lanterns, but I only wore it once. I had such a horrible night. I considered it to be bad luck and gave it away. After that, I wore a pumpkin orange shirt and a plain black tie.

I have twenty Christmas ties; one with a Grinch wearing a Santa hat, one with colored light bulbs, several with Santa, one with reindeer,  one with the twelve days of Christmas, one with Christmas trees, and one with carolers on it. I have one with Christmas ornaments, one with holly, and one with wrapped gift boxes, and one with teddy bears in stockings I have several with snowmen, snowflakes, and one with pine boughs and cones.

The one I hold mast precious is one that was handmade for me. The reason it is so special is the story behind it. Nancy was one of the switchboard operators and I would often stop in their area to use the telephone. Sometimes it was the phone closest for me to use.

When I stepped in, I said to Nancy, “That’s a nice blouse. It was black with bright abstract designs on it.

Nancy said, “This old rag.”

I said, “I just thought it looked nice.”

“If you want it I’ll give it to you. I was thinking about throwing it away.”

“I meant it has such bright colors and looks good on you.”

She didn’t say anymore.

The next Christmas, I got a present. She had it made into a tie. It really made me laugh. I decided to wear it for New Year’s Eve, because of its vivid colors. When I walked into the switchboard office, Nancy was there. She looked up and said, “Dang, it made a better tie than it did a blouse.”

Nancy has passed away now. I only wear the blouse/tie for New Year’s Eve as a tribute to a special friend.