St. Patrick's Day Attire

     Today I’m back to the bathroom project, but am waiting for the grout to dry to start the next step.  So I have time for a couple reflections . . .
     Thursday night and Friday morning I was thinking a lot about Kevin and Amy’s blog entry for St. Patrick’s day two years ago (no, guys, I don’t remember all your posts this well!)  What makes this post memorable was Kevin’s comment to a friend that it is more appropriate for us Protestants to wear orange than green on St. Patrick’s day.  That’s been my practice, too.  
     (Last year, however, my efforts were met with disastrous results.  It seems our secretary had never heard of this rule, and I couldn’t explain quickly enough.  Despite my bright orange tie, I received a hard pinch.  Ouch!)
     This year, I decided to wear an orange and green tie.  (There are several other colors in it also, by the way.)  I found this particular tie some years ago but haven’t worn it recently.  Well, Alaina saw me as I was putting it on.  Her reaction was immediate and unmistakable.  I didn’t know she could look so surprised and horrified all at once.  She didn’t know what to say first: “Where did you get that?!?  You’re not going to wear that today, are you?”  
I think she had several other things she would have liked to have said, but she was too speechless.  Obviously, she had never seen that tie in my closet.  And when I told her I had matching braces, she clearly didn’t believe me.  Until I returned to the closet and produced them.  Same reaction, more pronounced.
Usually she prevails on issues like this.  But it was St. Patrick’s Day, the tie was orange and green, and I was determined.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have dress slacks with buttons for braces that worked with the tie, so I couldn’t wear them.  So I have a new item on my wish list.
(Interestingly, the wardrobe evaluations were not one-sided.  Like Kevin two years ago, I also faulted Alaina’s top, which, coincidentally, might also be called sea foam green.  And she found a different one, more appropriately colored!)