Protestantism

» Migisi - Best-dressed, worst mood

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We wear our Sunday-best at traditional services, but promote Wednesday Nights as a laid back, casual time of worship, and folks might be excited about attending. Just because the clothing is relaxed, does not mean the message has to be.
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I understand dressing appropriately. I certainly wouldn't wear pajamas to a job interview, or a swim suit to a baptism. But I wonder why every service - regardless of what day - isn't laid back, casual, relaxing, and comfortable.
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I had a Sunday-best dress as a young girl - back when most girls wore nylon mesh underslips to poof out their skirts. It was like sitting on cactus needles, or having a hundred chiggers under my skirt.
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Saturday night, I was forced to wear ~spiked~ hair curlers to bed so I'd have curly locks for church Sunday morning. Wrapping long wet hair around curlers is torture. Removing those curlers is child abuse.
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The shoes - slippery shiny patent leather buckle-ons. The shoe soles were like racing slicks - no tread, smooth, flat. I can't count how many times I slipped on the polished marble church floor - especially when it had rained. For traction, I stuck cloth tape on the soles. The cloth wore off quickly, but the glue remained forever. Everything stuck ... string, leaves, paper, gravel, the floor. Imagine a whole pack of chewed gum stuck to your shoe. The little girl anklet socks always worked their way down the foot and into the toes of my shoes. Bare heels + shoes = blisters. Bandaids wound up trapped in the socks in the toe of my shoes too.
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All Catholic females covered their heads in church back then. Every service, I had a lace doily bobby-pinned to my head. I'd lost (on purpose) my church headwear once, so Gramma bobby-pinned the church bulletin onto my head. Cute! She could've folded it into a paper hat. But no. There it was - page 2 and 3 draped over my head.
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If you have any, look at a bobby-pin. It's supposed to have a blob of plastic on both points to protect the scalp. Mine never did. The plastic blobs fell off after much use, and the bare sharp metal points stabbed and sliced the scalp. Whoever invented these pins must've known something about instruments of torture. BTW, Mom used the same bobby-pins to keep my hair curlers in my hair overnight too. I HATE bobby pins.
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Our church didn't have air-conditioning. Back then, clothes didn't 'breathe'. That glue on my shoes? After an hour and a half in a crowded church, my clothes were glued on with sweat.
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Hot, wet sweaty dress, an itchy mesh slip, sticky shoes, fallen socks, trapped bandaids, blisters, and doily (or church bulletin) headware. What a picture of comfort and fashion, ay?
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If my mother only knew then how much I HATED church.

-- posted by Migisi