Life Lessons from Boys: The History of His "Air"ness....& the Shoes.

I have been waiting to write this post for awhile now. I am so excited about it and I thought today was the perfect day with it being the eve of tomorrow's big game. Let me first start by showing you a photo of my husband's side of the closet. (Honey, please don't kill me...) And this is only a PORTION. They leak over to my side and can be found on the floor and throughout the room. My camera lens would not fit them all. In case you have no idea, these are his collection of Air Jordan's. All in the original boxes, faced out to display the name of the shoe.

My husband loves his Jordan's. He can tell you the original colors of each pair, when they were released, why they were designed that way and if the pair you have are authentic or fake (note: don't wear any fake ones around him). Each pair has a special meaning to him. They will most definitely be the heirlooms that are passed down to the boys much like the pillow on the bed in the nursery that was my grandmother's. Or the rocking chair that I rock Deuce in every night when we read that my grandparent's rocked me in. For him, it will be shoes. I know it. And I appreciate it and respect it.

With that being said, I have yet to finish decorating the nursery. Yes, I know my child is quickly approaching 1 year old so it's way passed due but I have been struggling with what to put up there. I just can't fathom spending money on "baby" stuff that will be taken down when he is no longer a baby, which will be pretty dang soon. So I have just left the walls pretty blank. There is a mirror over his changing table and a really cute picture of him blown up and framed over his crib but that's about it. Oh yeah, there is a magnet board that my sister made (which is totally awesome by the way) that matches his room and holds pictures of him from the day he came home from the hospital. But there is a big wall over the spare bed that just sits blank, staring at me every time I walk in there. It seems to be screaming at me, "I'm naked & you haven't done anything about it!"

So while perusing one of my favorite websites, etsy, I typed Air Jordan's in the search box. I was directed to a whole bunch of non-jordan items and a few worthwhile ones. Near the end of the search list, I found a painting that I loved! And it was reasonably priced. While that painting quickly sold, I contacted the seller and inquired about custom paintings. And that resulted in the creation of 4 Air Jordan paintings for the nursery. Ed narrowed down his absolute, top 4, favorite pairs of Jordan's and I sent them to Mike, the artist. He created 4 custom paintings for me. You can check out his shop here. His work is hmmmm, eclectic, but the paintings of the shoes look awesome! These will make their place in the nursery and I'm sure will hang in Deuce's room for years to come.

I haven't decided how to hang them yet so I will post a final picture once I make a decision. Here are the paintings and a little history of each. All history is directly from Foot Locker.

In 1984, after winning a national title at the University of North Carolina and a Gold Medal at the Olympic games in Los Angeles, Michael Jordan was selected 3rd overall by the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Draft. That year Nike also signed Michael to a five-year endorsement contract worth a reported $2.5 million (plus royalties). There was initially some skepticism over the hefty contract being given to an unproven marketing commodity, but MJ was quick to prove the critics wrong. In 1985, Nike gave Jordan and his signature line of sneakers and apparel a unique logo — clearly, this line was created to be very different from Nike’s previous basketball efforts.

V's

While rocking the Air Jordan V in 1990, Michael Jordan made his sixth straight All-Star game appearance, won his fourth straight league scoring title and was named to the All-NBA First Team and All-Defensive First Team. Although the Bulls lost to the Pistons in the 1990 Conference Finals, Jordan was on the verge of one of the NBA’s greatest dynasties — and driving the footwear industry to new heights. Another first was the Grape Purple /Emerald colorway that had never been seen on a basketball shoe.

VII's

Michael Jordan wore the Olympic-inspired version of the VII as he led the "Dream Team" to a Gold Medal at the 1992 summer games in Barcelona. That pair featured the number 9 on the heel, reflecting MJ’s jersey number on Team USA. MJ won his sixth straight scoring title while wearing the AJ VII and was again named first team All-NBA, first team All-Defense and an All-Star for the seventh consecutive time. He was voted league MVP for the second straight year and won his second NBA Championship ring and Finals MVP with the Bulls.

X's

Michael Jordan returned to the NBA on March 19, 1995, against the Indiana Pacers. He wore the "Chicago" colorway of the Air Jordan X. Nine days after Jordan told the world "I’m back," he torched the Knicks for 55 points in his return to Madison Square Garden.

XI's

Thanks to great performance coupled with an innovative design, the Air Jordan XI is one of the most-loved sneakers ever. Sole Collector magazine voted the XI the top shoe of all time. While wearing the Air Jordan XI, Michael was elected an All-Star for the 10th time, the All-Star game MVP for the second time, scoring champion for the eighth time, and was again league MVP. The Bulls won the NBA title for the fourth time, and as he was for the previous three championships, Jordan was again the Finals MVP.

And here is a picture of the bare wall that will soon be covered by these paintings: