This is going to be long, so let me say I’m sorry now. Being a giant of a man at 5’6” tall and weighing 180 lbs I’ve already came to terms with the fact that I will not be able to wear off the shelf kilts. 24” be the standard, that would put the top of the kilt about 4” under my armpits.

From my research I know your true waist size has little to do with your pant size, but OMG, is it really that much of a difference? I wear 36” jeans and they fall off me, wearing them about an inch under my navel. So imagine my surprise when she told me the tape read 44” at the navel O_M_G!!! What the H_E double hokey sticks is up with that. I’m no Adonis by any stretch of the imagination but neither do I suffer from dickey-do disease (that’s where your stomach sticks out further than your …well you get the idea) I also know the tape doesn’t lie, so after making sure she wasn’t reading the metric side and recovering from my little break down and crying session, I’ve came to terms with my own personal inconvenient truth. I’m short, apparently morbidly obese and have the mental fortitude of a 6-year-old girl. I haven’t even called Rocky yet to order my first kilt and this whole thing is already kicking my butt.

I want to thank everybody that’s said hi to me in the newbie forum and say Its so nice to get a warm welcome from so many from so many different places. I work second shift in a job that puts me alone much of the time. Everybody is in bed and asleep when I get home and I’m sleeping when they all get up and leave for the day. It’s not uncommon to go a whole week and not even see my boys or go two or more days without even speaking to my wife unless it’s on the phone. We both jokingly say that it’s the time apart that’s let the marriage last so long. So it’s been very interesting to get greetings from so many places.

So, no real question at this time, just wanting to vent about my new personal awareness. I do want to look at the Masonic tartans, anybody know where I can look to see them?