What Not To Wear

I live in a climate where socks and sandals make sense. In fact, much of what people wear in my town makes sense....just not fashion sense. I totally understand why a person would go out in public looking like she just rolled out of bed and threw on the rattiest jacket in the closet, but I don't want to be one of those people. One of my school pet peeves was teachers who wore blue jeans and sneakers to class. I always thought their message to students was, "My number one concern is to be comfortable, and to hell with trying to be a good role model."  It really bugged me that teachers who themselves didn't know how to dress appropriately were the first to demand that I do something about what students wore to school. For the most part, students are given a free pass in the fashion department. They are experimenting, trying to find what works and what doesn't, and they have the added pressure of living in fear of being ridiculed by their peers while not getting in trouble with the adults in their lives. But I did have more than a few discussions with girls in my office about why they shouldn't expose various body parts in the classroom. Girls at school often told me that they thought I looked nice or they liked my shoes, etc. One time, while I was giving a girl a ride home to change, she said, "You always look so well put together. I hope I look that good when I get old." (OK, the word "old" bothered me, but when you're 16, everyone over 20 is old.)

So now that I'm retired, I have to think about what to put on in the morning. I have a closet full of pencil skirts and heels which aren't really called for when cleaning the bathroom or raking the yard. But if I'm in the middle of an art project and run out of Mod Podge, I want to be presentable enough to run to Walmart without ending up on someone's Facebook page wearing flourescent orange sweat pants and a hockey jersey.  I need to build a casual wardrobe that says I might be retired, but I'm not a slob. I still care about how I look, but I really don't know what to wear. It's like I'm back in high school experimenting and hoping people aren't laughing at me behind my back. Yesterday, I was reorganizing my pantry and ran out of shelf paper, so the dreaded Walmart run in a bad outfit became a reality. I did change out of the blue jeans that are a little too short (need to get rid of those) in favor of a pair that fit, but I had on a pull-over sweatshirt and a pair of old navy blue Keds. This is not a good look for a woman my age. I felt self-conscious. While I was worrying about it, I saw a woman my age walking across the parking lot. She had on floral pajama bottoms that hit her about mid calf, a long baggy t-shirt under a dirty brown quilted jacket and bright turquoise moon boots. The thing is, where I live, the only person who will be laughing at me and my blue Keds will be me.