Not an Exact Match

Did you ever do something where regretfully, you are so embarrassed, that you wonder how many may have noticed?
That is what happened to me today, once again.

When I was in high school, in English class, yes Fr. Peter, that was a long, long time ago, I recall, my teacher all of a sudden would give us an on the spot quiz. It weighed heavily on your final mark. This is one of the embarrassing moments, as he would ask you to get up in front of the class and talk about a given subject for one minute. So there I stood, shy and not wanting to talk, worse he gave me a subject "tattering" which I didn't even know what the word meant. Later, he said I could have talked all around the subject, as long as I was saying something. I got a big fat zero. I never liked him anyway.

This probably was not as bad as that, but it ranks up there as far as embarrassment. To think at one time, I didn't like to talk, I didn't talk much in school. Anyone who knows me wouldn't believe it. They all say, I talk a lot.

One Sunday, my mom came home from church, laughing all morning. She used to go to church early so she could make the meatballs, as we usually had spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. It was my favorite meal. Anyway, the priest used to climb up the stairs and preach from a balcony where he could be seen and heard. You could always hear a pin drop. It was fall and people wore hats then. Of course, people had colds and were sneezing up a storm. It was popular to wear a veil over your hat, which covered your nose, (like the one's worn on the Loretta Young movies at that time), so being engrossed in what the priest was saying, one of the parishioners reached in her purse, pulled out a tissue, and proceeded to blow her nose all over the veil which she neglected to pull up. Needless to say, she spent a good amount of time wiping the gook off of her nose and veil while sitting in the pew. Since she never removed her hat, she daintily would dab every now and then, looking in a mirror. We are all embarrassed from time to time and know what it must have felt like.

I try to be as neat as possible most of the time, but Sunday's are special, so its not the usual flip-flops, sneakers, or worn shoes but I like to match my outfit, or purse. Women are not as particular as they used to be. No hats, please!

After church service, we have a coffee hour, where families take turns in preparing a simple muffin, bagel and cream cheese type of spread with coffee. I don't know if anyone was aware of my dilemma, but if they were, I didn't hear of it. Come to think of it, it didn't meet the same level of embarrassment as I've seen such as: someone dragging toilet paper from his shoe, or someone's underwear falling off while walking in a public restaurant, (Friendly's) in front of friends. This is a true story folks, it happened to my aunt. A little too friendly I'd say. Or, pulling up your pantyhose and getting the back of your skirt tucked into the waste band exposing your backside. Or, being congratulated for taking the wrong train, and it being an express, rather than local, missing your destination. I could go on and on, but I won't bore you.

So, this neat lady, when getting out of the car today, started to yell oh no! Oh No! Of course, hubby didn't know what was going on. My Embarrassment was what was going on, as I realized it happened to me, again! It happened to my home economics teacher years ago, (we all laughed at her the entire day, as she traced up and down the hall). Its happened to me several times, also, that I recall.

When this time of the year comes, the house is dark in the morning, and I was a late owl last night, doing what I like best, working on the Internet. So half asleep, I pulled out my clothes and shoes, never noticing that I had made a mistake, until just this moment. I had a different shoes on. A brown patched one on the left and a perfectly matched shoe but solid black one on the right.

We will have to do something about the lighting to try to alleviate this problem in the future. My husband, John, will be the first to admit that he's done it, too. He can't see either.

Oh, by the way, they say that laughter is good for the soul. Are you feeling better, Fr.?