The Mrs. comes around

[Alan H]

For all you guys with ladies who just aren't too sure about this kilt thing, listen up.

I started wearing a kilt in early February. I'd seen them at a number of Celtic music events that I'd gone to for a while and I'd decided that maybe I could try this out, too. I wasn't going to spend a lot for my first kilt and I'd looked around X Marks and seen what folks had to say. I ponied up the $75 for the Stillwater Standard Black Watch.

At one of the music events I'd gone to last September I had bought a jacobite shirt. It had been hiding in my closet since I got back from that Faire.. I'd bought some extra wide leather belts at the local neighborhood garage sale, and had bought a celtic buckle off of ebay. She knew about the buckle and the belts. Finally the big day arrived...the Black Watch came in the mail. I put it on, along with the belt and the jacobite shirt and stepped out of my study for my lady to get a first look at her guy in a kilt.

She freaked. She hated it. It was "girly". I got a glacial reaction. It was different, it was ugly, it was effeminate. My lady doesn't *do* "different" very well, as a general rule. I hadn't asked her what she thought. I sprung it on her with next to no warning, and it didn't go over well. Even after I took off the jacobite shirt, her reaction was ice.

Well, I wore it around anyway, and got a number of disapproving looks and comments. At one point we had a hard talk and I told her that she could lay off "the looks" and "the comments" and while I loved her and her opinion was important to me, I'd wear what I want to wear. She accepted that.

Now it's May. I've been wearing kilts on weekends a lot, and around the house and to work twice a week. She's gotten used to it all. The clincher came this weekend at the Highland Games. Of course she saw hundreds of guys in kilts, and of course I made sure she saw the Big Guys at the heavy athletics. No girly-girls there!

The kilt is no longer an issue (though spending money on more of them is!!! LOLOL). Going to the Highland Games and seeing that they're not "girly" clothes helped. Hearing some of the older men (and women) who only wear kilts for special occasions express approval for us "young guys" See dear, I'm a "young guy", now! who wear them day-to-day helped, too.

You CAN win over people who's initial reaction is out-and-out rejection. You CAN.

I did.