…..You are only dancing on this earth for a short while. And though your dreams may toss and turn you now, they will vanish away like your dad’s best jeans, denum blue faded up to the sky. And though you want them to last forever you know they never will……..Patches make the goodbye harder still.

singer /songwriter Cat Stevens

To see all the fashion and fads of blue jeans on social media is just too much. Patches are manufactured as decor by the factory and 1000s are purchased. What is the origin of the patch?

I reflect back to time spent in the 60’s and 70’s frantically searching my closet for an old shirt or dress to cut apart in an effort to salvage my one out of two pair of jeans. Patches were a valid fix to acceptance of a simple problem.” My jeans are wore out and need repair.” However, far more than that, It gave me the avenue to be creative, unique, realistic, and most of all frugal. New jeans were not an option. The tatters did not justify replacement.

In life’s abundance of rips and tares and tattered heartache, it is the patience and endurance that materializes into beautiful patches. We take the time to handle every stitch with consistency and dedication. The patches in nature mend the wounds underneath. They serve as a reminder of the rips we as individuals endure and overcome. We don’t toss away “old”. We cant erase our flaws or the flaws of those who have affected us. We can choose to discard or repair. We can become new in a sense by learning from the old. Each patch is a memory of how we chose to avoid the easy way out. Each stitch is an act of faith. Just like my old blue jeans, my history is the very fabric of who I am. The severe pain of losing someone who has been a part of my fabric for 42 years rewinds me into the amazing torn threads and the beautiful patches we took the time to sew. Patches make the goodbye harder still because they carry with them colorful memories of loyalty and resolution.. Goodbye makes the journey even harder because we were created by God to be much more than mass production. I challenge you. Make your old jeans a symbol of how you choose endurance/repair over discard.