-ZZ Top
For 25 years of my 30 year teaching career, I wore a buttoned-down
shirt and necktie to school every single day. Granted, I wore a short sleeve shirt
ala 1974, but that was just the way I remembered how a teacher was supposed
to dress. Besides, a short sleeved shirt was much more comfortable for me.
White shirts were not my favorite. I never wore undershirts
of any type, having rejected them completely as a kid. They drove me nuts, and dad relented. Hey, T-shirts are fine as
outerwear and I have a bunch of them. However, I cannot stand to wear undershirts, and as a result, my very hairy
chest would be visible through my white shirt. Those chest hairs are now mostly
gray, but are still just as noticeable through a white shirt.
Modern “manscape”
now dictates that males sport a chest as hairless as a baby’s bottom. Six-pack
abs are a prerequisite, but hair is banned. Currently, I am sporting a kegger instead of a six-pack. I really don’t know where the hair
on my arms and legs went to, but my chest and back remain hirsute. Sorry if
this grosses out you youngsters, but this is the way it used to be and it is
still good enough for me. Damn kids!
Occasionally, I wore a long sleeved shirt. I didn't mind those too much. I remember a
particular orchid colored long sleeved shirt that I owned. I don’t know what it
was made of, but I loved wearing it. Alas, it required dry cleaning only. Because of that requirement, it
wasn’t worn very often and fell by the wayside within a year. Damn dry-clean only shirts!
I have amassed a HUGE collection of neckties. Besides the dozens of normal neckties, I have well over a dozen Christmas ties. The problem
is, my final five years of teaching, I did not wear a necktie at all except for concerts
and graduations. I didn’t even wear them to parent-teacher conferences, which
we held the week of Thanksgiving. You are probably wondering why. All of the younger teachers dressed in polos and slacks and they looked very comfortable. I wanted to feel comfortable. Bye-bye, necktie.
I don't have much call for dressing up nowadays. Even my church attire consists of slacks and a polo shirt.
Every so often, I will wear a shirt and tie and maybe a sport jacket on Christmas
Eve or Easter. Even that has become a rarity.
My wife and I are going to a wedding on Saturday. I really
don’t know what we will be decked out in, but I don’t think it will be as
dressy as for weddings we attended 30 years ago. Life is more casual than it
used to be, unless you are a captain of industry or a politician. Since I am
neither, I guess a polo shirt and maybe a jacket will suffice.
I wonder if cargo shorts would be frowned upon?
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