Hoodies

My armor for tough days.

I’ve found the comfort and coziness of hoodies to be something of a leg up on days that we’ve got to be at hospitals or at cancer clinics. I feel cute in them, they’re warm and unfussy, and they stand wearing multiple days in a row.

Feeling cute matters when you’ve got to take your husband to the cancer clinic.

I recently decided to treat myself to two new hoodies. I had them custom-printed and had fun designing them. Clever or snarky hoodies rarely come in colors I prefer, so this time I got to choose! The first is based on something John said to our primary care doctor, in whose office we landed recently for a pre-operative physical.

For the pedants out there, I checked: “hero” is considered acceptable in casual use even when referring to a heroine. Language does change over time, my friends; it’s rough, I know.

The second hoodie has two lines from my favorite Bach motet. “Trotz dem alten Drachen” (Defy the ancient dragon, i.e. Satan) and “Mir steht Jesus bei." (Jesus stands by me.)

Whitsun, you’re making this difficult. Our readers can’t see which motet the quotes are from.

“It’s not my fault you brought new smells into the kitchen that must be accommodated, Lady of the House. Perhaps your readers can figure out the title through my paws.” Well, maybe the Bach nerds can, Whitsun, but I’ll tell everyone else that it’s “Jesu, meine Freude,” BWV 227.