Last week my family was in Colorado, visiting with some old friends of my wife. Now my wife is tolerant of my kilt, but as many of you know, that’s a far cry from being actively enthusiastic about me wearing it. So as it was her friends we were visiting, I agreed to leave it at home.

Well, about the third night we were there, I was sitting on the back porch of the house a group of us had rented. I was smoking my pipe, waiting for the grill to heat up. About that time, one of the women from this group (whom I had only met this trip) came outside and said, “All right. That’s enough.”
I looked at her quizzically, and she explained that when she first saw me, she was sure I was either “English or Scottish.” Her perception was strong enough that, she couldn’t reconcile an “American” accent coming out of my mouth. Now that she saw me sitting and smoking a pipe, it just reinforced the image. She went on to say I should really be wearing a kilt!

I laughed and told her I couldn’t agree more!