I detest the drop-off drama and so I have avoided befriending “the moms,” though I’m sometimes a little jealous when I see them hugging and chattering at the school wall. It’s impossibly difficult to find time to “make friends” as a grown woman, so when Jessica—a sane, normal, and interesting person I’d actually enjoyed chatting with—suggested plans, I was eager to appear similarly sane, normal, and interesting (surely I could pull together a look to fit this part?). I imagined she wouldn’t notice, never mind judge, my outfit, but I was making an effort (not to make too much of an effort) just in case …
After eliminating the dresses and all the pants in my closet (for varying mom-code violations), I wavered between my one pair of fitted but almost threadbare jeans that I wear all the time, and my one pair of wide-leg jeans that I should wear all the time, but I somehow always end up swapping for the threadbare pair right before I leave the house. I relaxed as I felt my playdate outfit come together: a grey cashmere hoodie, with a white (but not brand-new white) tank top, and a pair of wide leg jeans.
Shoes? We’d be walking back from the diner together so I needed shoes I could talk and walk in—quiet flat shoes.
The night before I had prayed for rain so I could wear my wellies. Wellies are friendly—like dimples on my feet, and best of all I can wear whatever socks I like inside them. But it was a dry, cold morning—which served me right for not giving anything up for Lent—so my wellies were out, damn.
I reluctantly bypassed my flip-flop collection and reached for the cute but slightly battered pair of black and grey tweedy flats. Shit, which socks? I hate socks—that’s why I’m strictly a heels, wellies, or flip-flop person. These flats look so much better without socks but I’d have to wear some kind of stockings with them—not because I was worried about getting a cold in my kidneys as my grandmother always warned, but because I might look odd venturing out without socks in 24° weather. I tried a few different pairs and settled on the knee length thin-knit pair, but wasn’t happy about it.
