I love the story of Dale Irby, a recently retired elementary school physical education teacher in the Richardson school district in Texas.  Dale learned to his embarrassment in his second year at the school that he had worn the same outfit for his annual school photo both years.  After this realization, Dale’s wife dared him to wear the same outfit the following year.  He did.  And then it just became his thing – every year, every annual school photo he wore the same thing – a white polyester collared shirt and a brown sweater vest. Dale Irby worked at the school district for 40 years and for 40 years his annual school photo outfit made an appearance.

I love that Dale owned what he first perceived as an embarrassment and ran with it.  The ability to laugh at ourselves – to accept that we are human and make mistakes – is a gift that we should all hope to possess.  Dale Irby is my kind of guy!  In addition to spending his career in elementary education (which is saintly in-and-of itself) – for 40 years he role modeled a healthy sense-of-humor for those around him. Nicely done Dale…enjoy your retirement! 😉