After years of being too scared I finally bought a kilt - and wore it in public.

[editor's note: I -did- have my Marine son with me in case someone wanted to start something in my redneck Georgia town]

First let me say that I settled on a Stillwater Kilt, standard weight, in Stewart black. In order to keep their costs low Stillwater only offers a few selections. But after an online order I had the kilt in my hands in three business days.

I ran to the bedroom and put it on with dress shoes and a tux shirt and jacket. When I presented myself to my bride she was pleasantly surprised that the ensemble looked nice. I think she feared that with me being such a long way from hunky Sean Connery that I'd simply look like a old fool.

The second step was to trade in my tux jacket for a CelticRadio t-shirt that I had won this past spring (and was waiting for this event to showcase). I then grabbed my son and headed to town.

The first stop was Kroger, a grocery store. And as you know it the items we needed were on the opposite side of the store from the entrance. But I sucked it up and walked like I had nothing to worry about. And, surprisingly, it was both fun and casual. Oh, to be sure, I got my share of stares, but I didn't hear any giggles or off-color comments.

Our next stop waws Best Buy, an electronics store. My son was looking for new computer speakers (in the absolute back of the store), so in we went. Everything was find until I noticed some guy, around 20-years-old, was standing a bit too close and staring at me. I turned to him and he asked me "Where are you from"?

I replied, "From here".

He returned with, "Uh, but what's your ancestry?"

I started thinking about me standing here wearing a kilt, and this guy was wondering what my ancestry was. Should I reply "German", or "African", or "Eskimo"? But I said, "Scottish".

He rambled on for a short time about a local Oktoberfest which I guess we thought was started by the Scots.

We returned home and I remained in my kilt the rest of the evening. The only other interesting event was when the pizza guy arrived. As I was trading him my money for his pizza he asked me if I had just returned from some kind of event. I told him no, that I just liked wearing a kilt. I'm not sure how he took it.

All in all I have to admit that I DID like wearing my new kilt. I'm NOWHERE at the point where I will start wearing one everyday to work or to church, but today was fun and won't be the last time I wear one in public.