by Angela S. Young

Created on: April 24, 2007   Last Updated: May 21, 2009

Clothing disasters, they happen to all of us. One minute you're going about your business, thinking all is fine.The next minute you discover (or worse - someone else points out) a problem. The immediate response is that "I wish I could just sink through the floor" feeling, as the red creeps up your neck and over your face. In other words, you are embarrassed!

Occasionally, you may have the possibility of hiding the faux pas before seen by others, but that is rare. My usual clothing disaster involves wearing my clothing inside out and not realizing it until another person comes up and informs me. I then slip into a restroom and turn my clothing around. I did on one occasion lose my half slip as I was coming down from the choir loft at church. Fortunately the only person to see it was the lady playing the organ. I kicked the slip in with her and she kicked it beside the organ, leaving others none-the-wiser.

As they say, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree". My clothing disasters are nothing compared to those of my mother. Fortunately both of us have a great sense of humor, so we laugh it off (after the embarrassment subsides) and go on with life until the next time. My father, the pastor of a small church in Indiana, occasionally has a little more difficulty dealing with his wife's tendency to clothing disasters.

One Sunday evening, the deacons of my father's church met before church. A group of 5 or 6 men gathered in the sanctuary to conduct their business. Once the business meeting finished, they stayed, talking to one another before church. Mom came early for church and proceeded to chat with several of the men present. My mother was a talker who used her hands a lot while talking, so use your imagination to envision her standing there, surrounded by men, talking a blue streak.

My father, on the other hand, kept trying to get my mother's attention. His hands were waving too, but for a different reason! Eventually, he realized she wasn't paying attention, so he stepped up beside her and leaned in to whisper in her ear. Mom's eyes got big. She looked down. All the men in the room looked down. Mom blushed red from bottom to top, mumbled some kind of excuse and fled next door to the parsonage to fix the problem.

So, what did dad whisper in her ear?

"Marilyn, you forgot your skirt!"

NO SKIRT! She had forgotten to put her skirt on before coming to church. Fortunately for her, she did have a slip on, covering her up fairly well.

The funny part of this story is not so much that mom showed up with out her skirt. That was par for the course for my mother. The funny part was that of all the males she talked to that night, not one of them had even known: they didn't have a clue!

That just goes to show you that men really don't pay attention!

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