I'm Aging

as we all are, but I can see the little old lady "tsk, tsking" coming through.

I am of course appalled at such behavior, but what's an old lady to do?

The situation was this. We were invited to a wedding on Saturday. A young man who works with my husband.

It wasn't until the day before the ceremony that my husband informs me the wedding is outside.

OUTSIDE? In this heat and humidity? Not being a warm weather gal I was a tad discomfited. Neither of the two dresses I had planned to wear were baking-in-the-sun types, but it was too late to run to a store, so I chose the lesser of two evils.

And I baked.

Fortunately the ceremony was short and sweet and I only had thirty minutes of sweat dripping down my back.

Here's the tsking part.

I was shocked at the attire of many a folk. I'd like to tell you it was all the young'uns but I'd be lying. People were in shorts, people were in jeans, some looked as if they had just finished mowing their lawn, remembered the wedding and ran over. Some of course had jackets (oh my, skip the protocol and possible heatstroke) and many of the young girls looked adorable in their sun dresses.

Naturally, I assume, many had known the wedding would be outside and I do believe considering the temps all should be allowed the grace of dressing accordingly. To me this meant for men, no jacket or tie, for women, a sundress or sleeveless top and everyone would ignore the arm flaps on us aging ladies.

It was the disregard by some to dress a little too casually for the occasion. One does not have to dress down to be cool-er and comfortable.

Or am I wrong?

Truly we are becoming more and more casual as a society. Maybe in larger cities there would be more of a dress code for specific occasions, but when I do get to a metropolitan area I do see a much more laid back attire everywhere. However I feel quite confident that a wedding in a big city still means look your best.

Don't get me wrong, I do love not having to 'dress up'. I like my jeans more than anything. I prefer my sandals and flip flops to heels (or facsimiles of) any day.

But I feel that some occasions call for a little dressing up and a wedding would be one. It signifies respect for the event. Hopefully it is a once in a lifetime occurrence and should be treated as such by our decorum.

Ah, I truly am a fuddy duddy.

But the story does not end there. We had some time in-between the wedding and the reception and as it was local we came home to our AC and cooled off before returning. I changed from Dress #1 to Dress #2, figuring who wanted to be around a sweaty mess.

Well, I had no idea upon arriving at the reception that the AC would NOT, I repeat NOT be working.

Oh, how did they survive in 1865 or 1965 or maybe even 1975 without AC?

A repair person had been called three times. Fuses were blowing right and left. The fourth AC guy was walking across the center of the room with his tool box and 10 foot ladder. Just not things you see at a wedding reception. Poor kids.

However everyone was in good spirits and once you understood the conditions all of a sudden the mode of dress did not matter. The guy in shorts was probably the smartest one in the room. He could sweat all through his cotton and not worry about dry cleaning costs or smearing his make-up. It was a little unfortunate though for the beer drinkers, the lack of electricity did affect the cooler for the beer. sigh.

I don't know how it all turned out. We chickened out and stayed only for the happy hour of the bride and groom entrance.

I'm getting too old to drink and party and be miserable.

Tsk, tsk.