Maw’s Shirt: Cloaked in Love, Support & Encouragement

Maw’s Shirt

In the livestock show ring, one should dress neatly. Farm/ranch professional. Jeans, boots, belt. Most wear some sort of collared shirt.

This can change from species to species, or in different areas of the country. Still, it’s pretty standard.

Our kids have several “show shirts.”

Sometimes shows last a few days requiring multiple shirts. 

And I always bring extra shirts even for a one-day event, cause, ya know, BoyChild and his shenanigans. 

Once, at a lamb show, BoyChild’s show shirt somehow became tangled on a lamb stand (an object the sheep stand on for shearing and grooming).

This unfortunate tangling occurred while the shirt was on BoyChild’s body.

Boy and stand – thankfully there was not a lamb on it – tangled, tumbled, and hit the ground. The only injury was the front of BoyChild’s show shirt which was torn down the middle, completely. 

I wasn’t even there.

My Farmer and I were a few states away at a cattle sale. Boy&GirlChild were showing sheep under the careful supervision of my sister and our Show Family. 

They all sprang into action, located the extra shirt I had packed, and the crisis was averted.

I always take an extra shirt for GirlChild too, though she seldom needs it.

She did need an extra shirt at the State Fair market lamb show a few years ago. Her curious lamb began nibbling on her exhibitor number that was pinned to the back of the shirt. One good tug on that laminated piece of cardboard and her cute little shirt ripped in two places straight down the back.

She was younger then and more willing to wear whatever I chose.

Now, she’s growing up and becoming more fashionable. 

She’s at the age that I ask her if my outfit works. 

She’s brutally honest.

I never have to ask her what show shirt she wants to wear. Which one needs to be washed. Which one needs to be ironed.

I don’t have to ask because I know she wants to wear, “Maw’s Shirt.”

Maw was their paternal great-grandmother. Pop Pop’s momma. My Farmer’s grandma.

Maw was a force. Not-much-over-100-pounds of pure grandmother. 

When she cooked, seconds were not an option, they were a requirement. 

She is Foodie Frances.

She ironed everything. She once gave me a look of sheer horror when I pulled out a bottle of spray wrinkle releaser while getting Boy&GirlChild ready for their roles in a wedding rehearsal. 

She was a collector of dolls. 

She was an unofficial collector of clothing and canned goods.

She worked hard. She loved even harder.

She loved her grandkids and great-grandkids with a definite fierceness. 

And they loved her.

We all did. Still do.

I could always tell when my kids had been to Maw’s house: 

The tops of their heads smelled like her very distinct perfume. They didn’t want supper because she had filled them with candy. They always came home with some type of toy, coloring book, or other bobbles she had given them.

In other words, she spoiled them rotten. 

And that was okay because she was their great-grandmother. 

I certainly wasn’t brave enough to tell her to stop. 

When Maw passed away 4 years ago, it was the first close loss our kids had experienced. It was hard. 

Double heartbreak for this momma. She was my grandmother-in-law and I missed her like crazy. Harder, though, was watching my babies mourn. Helping them navigate that feeling of sheer heartbreak.

So after going through Maw’s stuff, My Farmer’s cousin presented GirlChild with a cute floral ¾ sleeve, button-down “show shirt.”

It has been the show shirt ever since. 

When she first began wearing it, the ¾ sleeves were too long, had to be rolled up and pinned. The tail of the shirt was so bulky when tucked in, it made her belt fit differently.

But she looked cute.

And it was Maw’s shirt.

In the four years she’s been wearing “Maw’s Shirt” she’s had good show days and not-so-good show days. She’s had big successes and disappointments. 

She doesn’t wear Maw’s shirt because it’s “lucky.”

She wears the shirt because she can feel Maw’s love. Maw’s support. Maw’s strong slender arms that used to fill the sleeves wrapping GirlChild in confidence and encouragement.

She wore Maw’s shirt at a show a few weeks ago. 

It was at that show that I realized that the sleeves don’t have to be rolled anymore. The tail of the shirt is almost not long enough to stay tucked.

There’ll come a day when she completely outgrows Maw’s shirt.

What she won’t outgrow is knowing that her family, of which Maw was the cornerstone, will always surround her with the same support and love she felt when Maw was standing ringside. The same love and support she felt when she showed in Maw’s shirt.

She won’t outgrow that feeling of confidence, love, and pride no matter where she lands in the placings.

When she outgrows Maw’s shirt, we’ll shop. I’m sure her new show shirts will be trendy, fashionable and look adorable on her.

She’ll look clean, professional, and cute in the show ring.

I’m sure she’ll always keep Maw’s shirt somewhere in her closet.

I know she’ll always keep Maw in the boldness of her spirit, in the breath of her laughter. 

She’ll always keep Maw in the center of her heart.