Ah, the 20th high school reunion.

It does indeed appear that I will be attending, and by my side will be my lovely (and lively!) wife, Pamela.

Now comes the question of “what to wear”.

This sounds trivial, but it can have lasting effects on the evening. Ponder with me:

My goal in attending this event is not to show off or be the center of attention; in fact, I tend to avoid the spotlight when possible. If I wanted to show off I’d rent a flashy car and wear a lot of expensive… something.

Also consider that many (not all!) midwesterners (this is in Indiana) tend to have this habit of being highly suspicious of those who aren’t like them. And, sometimes, they are downright unfriendly of those perceived as different (despite what you might have heard about midwestern hospitality – believe me, it is conditional).

This being said, I wonder if dressing in my usual style would help maintain my desired semi-wallflower status. My typical mode of dress is as follows:

• Polo or T- shirt
• Shorts, normally of the “boring khaki” variety, some with extra pockets.

That’s about it. Surprise! – I don’t normally wear shoes. I live in the Bay Area of California, I don’t have to. I do wear them to cross the holy threshold at work – from the front door to the main office door – where they are promptly ditched until I go out for lunch or leave for the day. And, upon crossing the threshold, off they go. BART doesn’t care one way or another. Or, at least, they don’t seem to care.

Well, attending sans shoes is not really going to work well in the “avoid the spotlight” vein, so we’ll shelve that idea. Never really was on the table, to be honest, and not worth fretting over.

I could wear the faithful Teva sandals. No one blinks at those anymore, and it is the middle of June. So, no problem there.

No way in heck I’m wearing a button-up shirt… well, I could be convinced to wear a Hawaiian shirt, but that’s a little too relaxed. So, we’ll go with a polo shirt. And long pants are right out as I hate wearing them.

So, it looks like my former classmates will have to deal with me as I am… blond (I wasn’t when I was in high school, let’s see if anyone notices that…), with ankle bracelets (4 at last count) and toe rings (6, although 2 are on the same toe), in a polo shirt and khaki shorts. And, let’s be honest, I’ll probably lose the shoes part way through the evening.

I can hear the whispering now.

Oh, this evening has real potential. Pam had mentioned wearing combat boots with her dress, maybe I’ll help her get a pair.