Clothes make the man...or girl

A couple weeks ago the young man from church who plays the bassoon and has a wonderful tenor/bass singing voice showed up in a car. Up until two weeks ago, he rode his bicycle from the Roosevelt Mall area to church, regardless of the weather. Because of riding the bike, he always sported shorts and biking shoes, and would change his shirt and shoes when he arrived. 

Robbie wanted the choir to wear robes for Transfiguration Sunday and was simply blown away that Sterling had long pants on! "Hey, you're wearing pants!", which sounded funny at church. The young man is no stranger to long pants since he is in the Navy. He was nicely groomed and not all hot 'n sweaty from riding the bike. He looked nice for church! 

Before CHRISTmas, Judy C.'s and my shared friend, Amber, was planning to come to church for her first time. She told Judy she wasn't sure what to wear having no 'fancy clothes' and she was assured that if she wore jeans, it would be okay. Judy and I decided to also wear jeans so Amber would feel comfortable. And she showed up wearing cotton slacks!!! 

Since then we wear our regular church clothes and so does Amber, but this week, she topped us royally! She had gone shopping with her granddaughter and bought a lovely plain black dress which she wore to church, complete with black hose and heels. Wow! She looked marvelous and received many compliments. 

This morning I watched a program on the Internet where there was criticism in regard to the image people present in their attire. I have long rejoiced that my children were boys and not girls. It seems that there is little in the stores for mom's to buy which is 'age appropriate' for school-aged girls. My little nephews wear jeans or similar pants with T-shirts or polos, and they are fine. To dress little girls, it seems, is a different story. The fashions are designed to have the kids look like miniature teenagers or worse yet--floozies! 

One of the men on the panel said, "I never thought I'd be 'that guy', but it seems, I am!!" Now that he has kids who are nearly grown, Andrew could scarcely contain himself when he saw what the chain stores and even Wal*Mart had on the racks for young ladies to wear for every day. In fact, Andrew said that the garments would not allow him to refer to these female children as 'ladies'. Not based upon their actions but rather, on what how they presented. Nearly every top had some sort of princess reference and/ or glitter feature. And he said he'd be darned if his daughters would carry on like that in a store when told "NO!" about a piece of clothing. 

Justin was talking to me last night after dinner (he likes to carry on conversations!) telling me about a mutual friend of Ron and his. Where Ron now works, the dress code has been lowered over the years. Their friend worked there when it was still 'shirt and tie' for everyday. I like that! I did when "business casual" was the code for Sprint, and knew what was going to happen when the dress was allowed to decline. People can deny it all they want, but it's absolutely true! The more relaxed one is with appearance, presentation!, the more relaxed one will likely be with the service provided, or with attitude in a social setting. Someone should do a sociological study about this---but it was probably already done! I have also become "that guy"....