feeling special is not OK

[highlander_Daz]

I thinkthere are plenty of opportunites to wear the Kilt outside of work, even in Scotland the kilt is only worn on special occasions at work or if Im pipeing. Maybe your setting yourself a very difficult goasl if You start off wearing it on odd occasions people will accept you as "the guy with the kilts", then maybe you could increase it. My cousin who lives in England and has an English accent decided to wear the kilt at a resteraunt to celebrate his birthday, his wifes friend at work said they didnt think it was appropriate and she made a fuss, the people who were saying it wasnt appropriate were not even invited. Being of Scottish blood and regarding himself as a Scot despite being born and brought up in England he was determained to wear the Kilt, his wife just kept saying "but your not Scottish!!!!" and his wife was upset because women were looking at my cousin in the resteruant (suprise suprise) In the end my cousin bought tickets for a charity ball in aid of a charity and went wearing a PC and Kilt and wore one at new year, His wife now acceps the Kilts as my cousins formal wear. I was suprised how much of a fuss his wife made and the comments "but your not Scottish" just becasue he has an English mother were very cruel "but your only half Scottish" was the next silly comment in my view you cant be half this or a quarter that-Its a case of "Scot or not!!"

[Archangel]

The "change of life" tack reminds me that the alternative to the new sport car, kilt, adventure, whatever is usually a trophy wife.

With hindsight, the kilt, sportscar, etc. is usually the better choice.


Something else to consider.

[KiltedCodeWarrior]

The "change of life" tack reminds me that the alternative to the new sport car, kilt, adventure, whatever is usually a trophy wife.

With hindsight, the kilt, sportscar, etc. is usually the better choice.


Something else to consider.

My wife actually said something similar to me in an email earlier today. That if this is a mid-life crisis and the worst thing is wearing a kilt, she will probably let it go and take it in stride. I did agree that if she felt strongly about my wearing a kilt to a particular event or venue that I would listen to her concerns and be open to not wearing a kilt. Specifically, we will be going to Disney in a few weeks for a reunion, and she has asked if I would wear shorts when we are going to a theme park where I will be crawling around on things with the girls, and I have no problem with that because I can wear some loose, comfortable shorts which are much better than trousers!

[Schultz]

I was suprised how much of a fuss his wife made and the comments "but your not Scottish" just becasue he has an English mother were very cruel "but your only half Scottish" was the next silly comment in my view you cant be half this or a quarter that-Its a case of "Scot or not!!"

I can definitely relate to this. My FMiL (future mother-in-law) was aghast and seemingly personally offended that I was going to marry her daughter wearing a kilt, even though it's something I've wanted to do since I first saw a groom in a kilt when I was 12. One of her last ditch efforts was the old line, "Well, how Scottish are you?". I replied that my grandmother was Scottish and she goes, "Well, that barely counts..." Of course, I had to remind her that her so called Italian daughter was only 1/4 Italian. She shut her trap pretty quickly.

Her next idea was to issue a bogus ultimatum to Miranda along the lines of, "It's either a relationship with me or the kilt." Miranda took the kilt, and the old Battle Axe has actually cooled considerably, and even mentioned my wedding attire w/o sneering a couple weeks ago.

It's amazing what standing your ground with some difficult people can do. The fact that I've made it abundantly clear that I'm not living my life for FMiL nor will I ever and I really don't care what she thinks has actually made things easier between us.

[David White]

Her next idea was to issue a bogus ultimatum to Miranda along the lines of, "It's either a relationship with me or the kilt." Miranda took the kilt, and the old Battle Axe has actually cooled considerably, and even mentioned my wedding attire w/o sneering a couple weeks ago.

Holy Cow! She really said that? How close will she live to you anyways?

dave, who is very glad his mother-in-law is very understanding.

[Schultz]

Holy Cow! She really said that? How close will she live to you anyways?

dave, who is very glad his mother-in-law is very understanding.

She says alot of things like that have meaning in reality.

For the moment, they live just 30 minutes away. The woman is definitely a control freak who is about to lose her only child, and is terrified that Miranda is going to move away and never speak to her again (I wonder why, eh?). She is tactless and a bit immature and really has a problem with accepting different people. It's odd, as she was very much a hippie in her youth and very supportive of different things until she turned 40, then she did a 180 turn. She's now very much opposed to different things and keeps saying she wishes people would "grow up". I have a dozen theories as to why she is the way she is, ranging from jealousy and envy to never really cutting her own umbilical cord (they live literally across the alleyway from her parents, and have since they got married).

But at the same time, no one's ever really stood up to her before. My hope is that she'll come around, especially once we move away...like upper New England away.

[auld argonian]

I have to say that I've seen some positively DREADFUL "formalwear" worn by bridal parties - specifically on the groom. Bear in mind that I lived through the seventies...and as one reporter whose column that I read in a Minnesota newspaper said about the recent revival of "that Seventies look", "...kids, we thought that we wore those awful clothes so that our children wouldn't have to."

The formal kilted look is pretty damn good in my estimation...face it...it beats getting hitched dressed as Elvis or something like that...perhaps a Klingon theme would make your future MOL happier?

We got married twice...once in a small civil ceremony with a couple of good friends present and once in the whole full blown church thingy (but I wore a tasteful navy blue Valentino suit...not a tux...I wanted to look like myself and not somebody's butler).

It's good that you and your intended are on the same page about this...

best

auld argonian

[Alan H]

Just to put my kilt-wearing in perspective in terms of going "out there" and edgy as part of a midlife crisis, let's do a little review of The Edge" since I turned 38....

In 1996 I was 38 years old. I had an affair with a woman I met on the internet and I sailed my 29-foot sailboat, solo from California to Hawaii. I ended the affair a month before I left the dock and got back together with my wife. Smartest thing I ever did was hook back up with her, and the affair was the STUPIDEST thing I have ever done..

Last year, summer of 2004 I didn't have an affair, and took a shot at racing my current boat, solo to Hawaii. A little 40-knot gale with 18 foot seas off the coast got in the way and I had the adventure of a lifetime trying to sail the 200 miles BACK to California through all that. Not to mention the Sailing Trip from Hell coming 250 miles up the Coast in a damaged boat with no electrical system to get back to San Francisco.

So this kilt thing is small potatoes. If I'm going to do something edgy as part of my mid-life crisis, I'm not going to muck around with some panty-waist little thing like strapping on a kilt. Hell no, I'm going to cut loose and do my midlife crisis, RIGHT.

BTW, summer 2008, I head for Hawaii again, solo. After that, maybe solo to Australia, we'll see.

[KiltedCodeWarrior]

Just to put my kilt-wearing in perspective in terms of going "out there" and edgy as part of a midlife crisis, let's do a little review of The Edge" since I turned 38....

In 1996 I was 38 years old. I had an affair with a woman I met on the internet and I sailed my 29-foot sailboat, solo from California to Hawaii. I ended the affair a month before I left the dock and got back together with my wife. Smartest thing I ever did was hook back up with her, and the affair was the STUPIDEST thing I have ever done..

Last year, summer of 2004 I didn't have an affair, and took a shot at racing my current boat, solo to Hawaii. A little 40-knot gale with 18 foot seas off the coast got in the way and I had the adventure of a lifetime trying to sail the 200 miles BACK to California through all that. Not to mention the Sailing Trip from Hell coming 250 miles up the Coast in a damaged boat with no electrical system to get back to San Francisco.

So this kilt thing is small potatoes. If I'm going to do something edgy as part of my mid-life crisis, I'm not going to muck around with some panty-waist little thing like strapping on a kilt. Hell no, I'm going to cut loose and do my midlife crisis, RIGHT.

BTW, summer 2008, I head for Hawaii again, solo. After that, maybe solo to Australia, we'll see.

Alan, I have to agree, live life to excess, moderation is for monks! check out Iolaus sig, as that sums it up for me. Making it into a coffin as the best dressed and most well preserved corpse has absolutely no attraction for me.

On another note, I love to sail, if you ever need a hand, or another kilted guy to stand by, let me know.