By PAWNEE ANNIE

We took a short trip last weekend to the “big city.”
We ate in nice restaurants. Once again, Fred and I noticed the dress code.
Even though a family or a couple might not hesitate to spend lavishly on food, they still wear junk. Guys wear dirty ball caps and washed out T-shirts.
Girls are a bit better, but they still come in with jeans with holes in them and wet hair.
Who buys clothes from all the many stores that are stuffed to the brim? Who is wearing them? Church folk? Sometimes. Restaurant customers? Hardly. Older people?
I like nice clothes. I, too, can dress like a bum.
But I try NOT to dress that way in public. It’s the only impression that I can make and even at that, I am not too impressive! Got that?
I understand people not being able to afford new, fancy clothes. But I see cute clothes in the Budget Shop! And there are sales all the time in the stores. Most women like to dress nice.
Fred is a typical guy.
He has a closet full of shirts. Some are more than 20 years old. Fred says he doesn’t need any new clothes. He is perfectly content with what he has. Most of his shirts still look decent and Fred looks fine when we go somewhere. After all, how stylish can a man’s shirt be? A shirt is a shirt, right?
Guys don’t need fancy, colored slacks. Those went out in the 70s.
Remember the stripes and checks? A pair of khakis looks good.
Fred owns some very nice sport coats. There must be 10 of them in the closet. Fred insists that “This coat is still good” and it might be 25 years old. That’s just yesterday, right?
Several of his “recent” coats are from “Martin’s for Men,” the store that changed hands in 1982 and is now the Methodist Budget Shop.
Another beautiful sport coat is a soft, angora-type wool that was bought at Dillards. One of them I recognize from the Bicentennial in 1976. They are still good! Who would notice?
Our adult children would. But Fred doesn’t care. Sport coats just might come back.
At least he’s not in knit jumpsuits!
We were recently in some box stores and Fred remarked that he needed some sleeveless cotton shirts to wear outside in the garden doing yard work.
A big mistake was walking into Dick’s Sporting Goods. I wanted Fred to buy just one. But, no. He was on the hunt for a bag of sleeveless (not undershirts) shirts, three to a bag for about $10.95
We didn’t find any.
I laughed in my head. It doesn’t matter. He doesn’t have a particular image to present and he doesn’t care.
Women like clothes. The stores are loaded with pretty accessories, and blouses, skirts and lounging dresses.
We love them. We imagine ourselves wearing them SOMEWHERE…
Have you ever noticed how women take a blouse or top off the rack and turn it, hold it next to their body and then slip it back on the rack? I have. We all do it.
And then finally we find something to try on. And if it looks good, we buy it. But, once in the closet, it hangs there.
Why? Because there’s no place to wear it.
Fred can slip on one of his shirts and a pair of slacks or shorts and look great. There is no BIG decision on what to wear.
I never see Fred standing in front of his hanging clothes sighing, “I just don’t have anything to wear!”
I see him grabbing a shirt and I say, “Oh no. That shirt has had it. Get rid of it. It has stains,”
Fred replies, “I want to get just one more wear out of it.”
Like there’s a big computer in the sky keeping track of how many “wears” an outfit has?
Shoes. I have about 20 pairs, I think. Some are for very dressy occasions so I have about 15 pairs. Some are for winter. So I have about eight pairs for the summer.
Fred has five pairs. Two are athletic shoes. And two are dress shoes that he won’t wear because they hurt his bunions. And one pair is for, well, special occasions.
He owns four pair in the garage covered with mud and dirt for working in the yard. These shoes have the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.
Fred wears one size. He never gains or loses weight. He is just one size.
I own three sizes. Some are on the large side, some on the small side, and most are right in the middle. I wear the “middle” the most.
It’s true.
We women and men regard clothes differently.
I am thankful that Fred doesn’t care about new clothes. It leaves the clothes allowance all for ME!

“Woman’s View” is Judi Tabler’s reflection of her experiences and events. She is a wife, mother, writer, teacher, grandmother, and even a great grandmother.