Why Do We Call it That?

Photo by Hans Isaacson on Unsplash

There are three units of measurement I live by: wonder, awe & growth.

Yesterday, Miko was sitting at the counter as I was washing dishes (hers, but let's not go there...) when she suddenly asked, "Mom, why do we call T-shirts that name? Like, where does the letter T come from?"

Like her questions can do sometimes, it struck me - I'd never thought about that. Where does the letter "T" come from in T-shirt?

For about 15 seconds, we both sat with the mystery, our minds reaching for possibilities. Then we did what I'm starting to call the "wonder and awe buzzkill":

"Alexa, what does the T in T-shirt stand for?"

Curiosity quenched in the snap of a finger. Answer delivered. Mystery solved.
But something felt lost in that moment.

I worry that wonder and awe may be joining other endangered species on the extinction list, right alongside play, freedom, and privacy. When answers arrive instantly, what happens to the beautiful space of not knowing?

Think back to when humans didn't have computers in their pockets. To look something up meant a trip to the library or, if you were fancy, thumbing through home encyclopedias. Imagine the ancient civilizations who witnessed comets, lightning, eclipses - their only explanations wrapped in stories of Gods and Goddesses displaying their power.

The not knowing wasn't a problem to be solved. It was a doorway to wonder...

When was the last time you were curious about something new or picked up a breadcrumb of mystery? Those places and spaces seem increasingly rare, yet humans still search for meaning. We still love to be enchanted, to experience moments where our minds bend.

It could be a moment under the dark night sky, counting shooting stars and wrapping your brain around what exactly you're witnessing. It could be looking through a telescope and actually seeing Saturn's rings for the first time. Learning how fast the earth is spinning, orbiting. How the body makes red blood cells. How the heart beats on its own without an electric source.

Do you see the pattern here?

Nature - all of it - is THE playground for wonder, awe, mystery, and curiosity. I believe curiosity is one of the human race's superpowers. Walking outdoors, sitting on your patio, looking out your window for periods of time can be such an easy way to remember and then help us "re-member" ourselves with the Wild.

I purposely haven't shared what the T stands for. Without Googling or searching, do you know? Because honestly, once I heard the response, I felt dumb, like the answer was so obvious I should have known it all along.

But maybe that's the point. 

Maybe feeling dumb in the face of mystery is actually feeling alive.

Drop your wonder and awe responses below about what the T means. Let's practice sitting with the question before we reach for the answer.

xx, 
Victoria