A New Wardrobe

When I told my grandma that we’re going to wedding #2 in town soon, she asked, “Will you have to buy a new dress?” And, for the first time, I realized a perk of military life that I’d overlooked. I won’t have to get a new dress. All of the people at this wedding are friends that we’ve met relatively recently at this assignment. None of them have seen any of my dresses, so I won’t have to buy a new one. (For a girl that hates dress shopping, this just saved me countless hours of my life and perhaps some tears. And money, of course.) None of them know that I’ve worn my pink and black dress to so many previous weddings that I secretly call it my “wedding uniform.” None of them have seen the back-up brown dress that I’ve worn to at least 3 other weddings. None of them witnessed me wearing my red and black dress to the previous 4 consecutive Christmas parties. Even my non-dressy wardrobe is all new to them. My neighbor saw me in an old blue shirt the other day and said, “Cute shirt! Is that new?” [I had to keep from laughing because a) it was at least 4 years old, and b) it had a hole in the armpit.] I figure that by the time the people here start suspecting that I’m wearing the same rotation of clothes over and over, we’ll already have orders for our next assignment. But my plot for wardrobe domination has one minor problem: Husband. He is starting to catch on. The other day I threw on an old pair of jeans, and this is the conversation that followed: Husband: When did you get those jeans? Me: In college, I think. Why? Husband: Just wondering. Me: Do they look out of style? Husband: Um…well, yeah. I know he’s probably right. (And I’m overlooking the fact that I’m taking fashion advice from someone who recently wore a 7-year-old collared shirt covered in orange “Fat Albert” images. I hesitate to call the shirt “out of style” because I’m not convinced that it ever was in style.) Regardless, I can accept that I might have to get some new jeans. But, I’m not giving up my wedding uniform. If Husband gets a uniform from our military life, then it’s only fair that I get mine.