Un-Uniform

I’ve been see a lot of Back to School sale ads and realize this was never a big event in my life. I went to Catholic school( for those of you who are new here, this simple fact should make things clearer for you in regards to my quirks) and had to wear a uniform. We would only go uniform shopping when I grew out of the size I was wearing.

It wasn’t until I went to High School when shopping for school clothing became an issue. It seems that having four distinct seasons raises hell with clothing. Back East each season required different clothing. Here on the Oregon Coast the only seasonal change I make is that I’ll remove my flannel shirt for about four hours on a summer day when the temps rise above 65 degrees for a couple hours.

I recall three items of clothing that I remembered getting for school that I just loved and wished I could adopt them as some sort of a uniform. One item was a pair of tweed bell bottom trousers, hey, shut up, it was 1969.

Another article was a heavy cotton paisley shirt. The funny thing was that this shirt had a cool inky smell to it. No matter how many times it was laundered it always smelled the same. It was a pleasant smell.

The third piece I liked was a canvas jacket. It looked like an Earth-Dog denim jacket, but it was made of white canvas.

So with all the uniforms, blue jeans, short lived Nehru shirts and jackets and all the other trends, these three pieces of clothing were the most appealing to me and I still think of the times when I wore that sort of stuff and how good it made me feel. It’s really important on a certain level to have pride in the way one dresses. Though my primary fashion consists of jeans, a flannel shirt and sandals or farm boots, I personally feel good about what I wear though it isn’t acceptable in many circles. We all have to be who we are.