Wearing a kilt is not a "Journey", with "stages"

[Alan H]

OK, so I'm writing about my experience, eh? This is how I see it and I grok that others may view things a different way.

First of all, "kilts" are not that important. Fun? yes. Nice looking? Yes. A connection with family (for some), yes. Comfortable? Yes. But Important? No. Well, what's important, then? Oh, things like integrity, decency, kindness, challenging yourself, having air to breathe and water to drink and food to eat are important. Love, family, your relationship to a higher power (if you believe in one) - those are important.

Along with the degree of importance there can be a level of stress, when things go wrong. When a family member that you love is sick and dying, that's a reason to be stressed, anxious and upset.

Kilts are not a reason to be stressed, anxious and upset.

At this point a number of members of the forum will laugh their heads off, remembering some heated exchanges here on X Marks in the past. However, those exchanges got me a bit hot under the collar not because of the KILTS, but because of perceived attitudes. That's different. Also, I "write hotter than I actually am". Anyway, I digress.

Back to the "journey" thing. If I had a kilt "Journey", it lasted maybe three weeks, at most.

Day One...see Utilikilt at Sonora Celtic Faire, and think that I could wear such a thing. Find out how much they cost. Fall over in shock.
Day Two ... search online for other options. Discover X Marks the Scot, and register.
Day Four ... discover Stillwater Kilts
Day Six ... order Stillwater Standard in Black Watch, browse X Marks some more and look at pictures

It actually took them two days to get it to me, so I can't go back to Day Five, though that seems to be Jerry's usual shipping method. He's so fast it's like walking backwards in time!

Day Nine ... try on kilt with pouffy Ren Faire shirt. Watch Joan's extremely disapproving reaction. Come down harder than I ever have on Joan about how I make my own decisions and she can keep her opinion to herself. (the number of times I have done this is 30+ years of marriage may be counted on one hand, BTW.)

Day ten... order sporran and some black boots on ebay. Browse X Marks some more.
Day thirteen .... wear kilt, sporran and boots to Sailing Scoiety meeting. I didn't realize that I needed to take out the basting stitches. I got some looks and a couple of comments but no big deal. When I got home I realized that I probably should take out the basting stitches because after my initial outing, I knew I wasn't going to be sending the thing back to Stillwater.
Days fourteen and fifteen ... browse X Marks some more
Day twenty .... wear kilt, boots, sporran and belt to work for the first time. I was very paranoid. What would people say? Who was going to get in my face and abuse me? I walked around all day with a chip on my shoulder the size of Alaska. Answer....nobody gave me grief.
Day Twenty One .... wore kilt, boots, sporran and belt downtown for the first time. Got some nice comments, most people just ignored me. I went to a shopping center primarily ferquented by hispanic people and if ANYBODY isn't going to "get it", it's going to be young, macho hispanic guys. Again, I had a chip on my shoulder the size of Alaska. *Nothing* happened. CONCLUSION.

This kilt thing is not that big of a deal, after all. It took about three weeks to figure it out.

All the rest of the past six years has just been having fun with it.

Now, some folks may point to six years of kiltmaking, but I don't consider that a "Journey". That's just something that I do for fun. "Journey"? Wow, what a pretentious word for "sewing". Others may point to my competing at the Games as a "Kilted Journey" with "stages" Bunk. Like my friend Kelly Niklasen says..."We're throwing rocks and sticks, get over it!".