Quarantine
The pandemic has been raging for over a year. Retirement and sharing a house affords me the luxury/annoyance of quarantine without cost.
The first few weeks of staying in my pj’s until afternoon was whimsical. Now, I hate my pj’s.
Getting dressed
The exercise clothes replaced the jammies. No point in dressing up. I moved from short yoga pants to long sweats as the weather slowly eased into winter.
For our road trip to Chicago in March, I packed a week’s worth of fleece including a pair of jeans for “dress up.” Seven weeks later, I am ready to burn all of them, including my underwear.
The online clothing stores offered fantastic sales this winter. How enticing. But what was the point? A new pair of pj’s was a sufficient treat, shared by many people according to CNN which reported record sales of pajamas in 2020. My lawyer baby bro confessed going to court in shirt/tie and pj bottoms.
Time to move on
Thanks to the COVID vaccine, the world is opening up. Although not venturing into crowded arenas, Mike and I are socializing with other fully vaccinated friends and family. In the right setting, I could wear my jammies in their presence. But I have my scruples. I draw the line at 11:00 am.
Now we are back in Arizona, the May heat taunting us. I return to my Arizona summer casual wear, over two years old now. I hate them.
I want to burn everything and start over. But my wants and needs are simple. My Midwest practicality nags me: why spend money on clothes when the closet is full and I’m not going anywhere?
For Mother’s Day, the kids gifted me new clothes. Do they sense my disgust with my wardrobe? Perhaps they, too, are disgusted with my apparel.
Dress for the goal.
Dressing up means different things to different people. Who knew? So if I want to achieve fulfillment in my current environment, I need to picture what that looks like and how to dress for it.
Jammies and sloppy sweats won’t do the trick. Time to clean out the closet.