History is shaped by our hands.

I went out with some of my coworkers last night for a Mid-Winter party. Technically, it's our holiday party, but management freaked out with the "War on Christmas" this year and changed the name of it. Anyway, I rarely go out with my coworkers. I don't really have much in common with most of them. While we can all tolerate each other and enjoy each other's company during business hours, there's really never any desire on anyone's part to do anything after hours. But this was free food and drinks at a decent place (for a change), so I was in. In for only about 90 minutes, but in nonetheless.

Imagine my surprise when I was leaving almost 5 hours later. I clearly hadn't planned on staying that long, but I was having a good time. Of course, near the end of the night, things started to get odd. As my coworkers got more alcohol in them, they became more and more willing to discuss how they were going to change me to make me more like them. Okay, "discuss" is a kind word. There were more willing to tell me how they were going to change me, and through that, how they were going to get me married.

Most of their suggestions were bunk. Most of their suggestions involved throwing out any individuality and uniqueness. I told them that by doing these things, I'd actually be in disguise as someone that I clearly wasn't. They said that I'd still be me, but I'd be presenting someone different. "So I'd be lying? Putting up a front?" I asked. They were unwilling to commit to the word "lie", but did admit that I was putting on a show. I refused to do any of these things.

They did have one really good suggestion. They said I needed a pair of black Dr. Martens, because my brown ones, while nice, don't go with every outfit. I breathed a big reluctant sigh and admitted defeat. They all smiled big with their victory over me. They were quite happy that they were helping. What they don't know is that I've been looking for a certain style of Docs in my size for about 2 months now. Wouldn't it be great if my shoe store finally got them in stock? By buying the shoes now, I could get the shoes that I wanted AND give my coworkers the impression that I got them because of their coaxing.  A victory for them; that really isn't one.