Uni-clothes

When did clothes merge?  Did I miss something somewhere? 

“Back in my day…..” smacking toothless lips together…. “you had church clothes, school clothes and play clothes.”

Yep.  I see those nodding heads of people over a certain age.  You know what I’m talking about.  You remember what happened when you wanted to wear that new church dress out to play in and show off to your friends.  That was when you were snatched bald and told to go change clothes.

Church clothes were the dressy clothes.  These were the ones you wore to church on Sunday morning.  And if you had to go to someone’s house right after church, you couldn’t play because you “were in church clothes!”

School clothes were the new ones you got in August to start school in.  You got replenished at Christmas.  You could wear school clothes to Sunday evening services and to Wednesday night potlucks.  You wore them to friend’s birthday parties.  But the minute you came home from school you had to change out of school clothes into…….

Play clothes.  These were the ‘old’ school clothes your mom didn’t mind if you got them dirty.  You never worn play clothes to church, even during vacation bible school.

However, at some point they have all merged.  You can no longer tell someone what to wear to an event by going ‘church’, ‘school’, ‘play’.  And nowhere was more evident than at graduation last week.

There were people who were in their church clothes.  Complete with hats.  Those 2 piece, polyester suits for women and a 2 piece suit for men.  Full makeup, hair done, jewelry on.  This was an ‘event’.

Then there were those, like myself, who wore school clothes.  I was in a skirt and knit top and strappy sandals.  Men wore slacks and dress shirt.

And then there were those who stopped their yard work and showed up for the graduation ceremony.  Denim shorts, Capri's, t-shirts and flip flops.  Even Texter dressed up for her sister’s graduation.  Granted it looked more like disco Friday night, but she did dress up.

I do like the fact in some ways the lines have been blurred between how you dress for certain things.  I can go to church in the summer without putting on hose, for example.  But there was a certain mental ease when you could label what you needed to wear with one word and everyone knew what you were talking about.

So, I’m sitting here in my play clothes, washing my school clothes and wondering what I would do if I needed church clothes.