January 28, 1987
When the kids were babies and I sat for hours folding diapers (yes, they were born in the pre-disposable era), I looked forward to the time when everyone would wear normal clothing. I even thought of the fun my daughter and I might have if we happened to wear the same size. I didn’t think about father and sons wearing the same size but I couldn’t foresee any major problems.
Now the kids are grown and the problems are beginning to appear. First there was my daughter. Suddenly one day my sweaters and blouses began to disappear only to show up in her closet. The problem through became compounded when she left for school and my wardrobe went with her. Thanks to Mother Nature my daughter never quite reached my height or was able to fill my shoes so I’m only missing my sweater vests, jackets, etc.
On the other hand I’m not too sure if my husband has anything left in his closet which he can call his own. It started with ties and occasionally a pair of dark dress socks. (They seem to fit anyone) But during the last few years we have moved on to shirts, jackets, slacks and even shoes.
The problem is my husband is just a little heavier than his son. So he wears a 15 1/2 shirt and Chip wears a 15. This means the sharing goes only in one direction. And it’s not into our closet.
What is really unnerving is when one of Chip’s shirts finds its way to our closet and my husband tries to put it on and can’t get the collar buttoned. This usually happens early in the morning or when we are already late for an important occasion. Once he has discovered it’s the shirt and not an extra 10 pounds, he can’t decide if he should be angry or relieved.
Until recently I had kept fairly good control of the situation. But after Christmas with new sweaters, vests, shirts, etc. it was more than I could handle. Neither of them could remember if the blue or the brown vest was theirs or anything else for that matter. So I took a day and sorted everything according to style, color and need. Now we are back to his and his. My goal is to maintain this position until Chip leaves for college in the fall when we can go back to a somewhat normal life. That is until David grows a little bit more (he already wears the same size shoe) and then we can start all over again.
GCB