High strung (a strangely sweet story)...

I may have just heard one of the strangely sweetest stories ever, and almost by accident, not quite, but almost.

A young man walked into the building this morning wearing a t-shirt with an image of sneakers flung over a power line screened onto the front. A co-worker of mine ventured to ask what the whole sneakers chucked up and over a phone or power line meant, which naturally earned her a shrug. A quick poll revealed that no one knew what it meant, if it meant anything at all. There were urban legends that in years past it symbolized gang territory, which seems a little ridiculous, and then I found this smile inducing theory.

One belief holds that teenage boys who've just "scored" for the first time — i.e., lost their virginity — are wont to heave an old pair of sneakers over a power line to celebrate the moment and proclaim their conquest to the world.

Who says teenage boys aren't romantic?

Isn't that a great little theory? I love it. Of course, anecdotes of the phenomenon across North America tend to show that the highest frequency with which public works departments are shipped out to remove said sneakers occurs after school lets out for the summer break. An awfully romantic scenario as well I think. Either way, the sight of sneakers on power lines will forever and ever more make me smile.