Whatever shall I wear?

 

Ok, Charlotte. You win.

Thirty-two years ago (see footnote*), Charlotte told me that she kept a spreadsheet of her clothes and where she wore them. This prevented her from wearing an outfit too often or from wearing the same dress to multiple parties or events.

I scoffed at Charlotte’s record-keeping and assumed that, because she was a math teacher, she simply loved spreadsheets.

I was able to find several reasons why such extreme wardrobe measures were not necessary for me. For example….

I did not have as many clothes as Charlotte. Because of my commitment to weight loss and subsequent weight gain, there were only a handful of items in my closet that fit my body size at any given time. Therefore, I could certainly remember what I wore.

I have always been a fan of uniforms. When I worked at a fast-food restaurant in my youth, there was no decision about what to wear. And now, Martin and I use our extensive collection of vacation t-shirts daily. Mondays are Encanto Shirt Days because Evan is with us, and that Disney movie promotes a family theme. Thursdays are the Love UMC t-shirts because we do our Hearts and Hands food pickup.  Other days, we make a point to wear matching Muppet Pirate shirts or Star Wars shirts as though we are kindergarten students on a field trip who are worried about getting lost.

My therapist has assured me that there is no reason to track my wardrobe usage to avoid the embarrassment of repeated clothing, because nobody else cares what I wear. She is confident that others notice my clothes about the same amount as I notice theirs.  I don’t even remember what Martin wore to church this week.

On the other hand…

I have a new favorite shirt. A pink-striped cotton button-up shirttail hem that, in my mind, makes me look like Rizzo from Grease when worn with jeans and white tennis shoes.  I have worn it to breakfast with friends, parties, church, and family gatherings. It is quite possible that someone has questioned whether or not I have any other clothes.

And then there is the coffee mug debacle. In my years of gainful employment, I was part of an annual gathering of administrative assistants to cabinet members (denominational cabinet members, not governmental cabinet members). I always packed for these meetings with no thought of previous or future years of clothing accountability.  Until the year that one of my friends surprised the group with personalized coffee mugs. I gushed appropriately at her thoughtfulness and admired the photo of our group from the previous year emblazoned on the mug as a beautiful and sentimental memento.  Then I realized the Nancy in the picture had on the same clothes as the Nancy holding the mug.

 

Charlotte, do you recommend Excel or Google Sheets?

 

*I know it was 32 years ago because I used Algebra.

2025 – 1993 = X

I am hopeful that Math Teacher Charlotte is impressed.