A few years ago, my sister, who has three little kids, was running out of ideas to get her two oldest children to get along. Like any siblings, they would argue and fight over the most pointless things. To this day, I have no idea how she came up with this but I remember receiving a text from her asking if I had any shirts that I no longer wore that she could have. I said sure and gave an old long sleeve shirt to her later that week when I went over. I assumed that she just wanted a comfy baggy shirt to wear. Boy was I wrong.

The hand-me-down tee became known as the ‘hugging shirt’. The concept was simple, if the kids were arguing and couldn’t get along, they had to go into the hugging shirt together. My old tee worked well since they were so young so they had plenty of room to fit both their heads through the one head hole. They’d be forced to stand in the shirt together, and hug it out for 3 minutes. It would always start out with screaming and arguing but after a minute or two, they’d start laughing. They’d realize how silly they were acting and after that, they were just having a grand ole’ time in their hugging shirt, with their arms wrapped around each other. Even as little kids, I believe that they realized there was no point to hold onto the anger towards one another. Instead, it was time to let go and look to the future, to all the fun that they would have together when they’re not aimlessly fighting for no apparent reason.

While this is a silly and fun little story, I believe this corresponds perfectly with the strap. Whether it’s a family member, a coworker, or a friend at the end of the day we need to let go. If we’re too focused on the past we’ll never be able to look to the future and all the blessings that are to come. This strap is a reminder to always hug it out, to forgive and forget, and to be ready for the future.

Nick