Keep on clippin'

Mark loves clothes -- he's obsessed with them. I'm not sure how to deal with that, since I, as you know, am not similarly obsessed. It's not so much that I'm uninterested in clothes, I just didn't get the well-dressed gene, like my sisters-in-law did. I'd like to describe my style as "casual chic" or "hip soccer mom," but it's really more along the lines of "It was clean, and it matches, so I wore it."

But Mark's really picky about what he wears. Once he decides clothing is not to his taste, it takes an act of God to convince him to wear it. (Ironically, he attends a public school district that requires uniforms, which drives him crazy.)

His taste in clothes is definitely teen skater. He loves Tony Hawk brand clothes, or anything with skulls on it. He loves hoodies and baseball caps, but only the ones with flat bills. He likes jeans, but only black jeans -- he refuses to wear blue jeans, for reasons unknown. Also in the reasons unknown category -- clothes must meet strict criteria; interestingly enough, cleanliness is not part of that criteria. He'd wear the same clothes every day without washing, if I let him (for the record: I don't let him!).

Mark also likes to experiment with patterns and colors. It's not uncommon for him to wear a knit cap, striped shirts with camouflage shorts, topped with a plaid hoodie and flamed shoes, and to scoff at me loudly when I suggest perhaps adding a solid color item to the outfit. I've been scoffed at enough times that now, instead of making suggestions, I make pictures -- photographic evidence to torment the adult Mark.

His clothing style is definitely casual -- except for ties. For some reason, he loves ties. He hates collared shirts, but will wear them with a tie. He wears them willingly, and proudly.

This weekend, he wore a tie. He dressed himself, and asked, "How do I look?" I assured him he looked great.

He not only loves ties, he's very protective of them. He was reading a Garfield comic book, and came to a line where Garfield disparages clip-on ties. That line stopped Mark in his tracks.

"Whoa!" he said loudly, dropping the book and holding up his hands. "Whoa! Watch it, Garfield! That is not cool!"

He took a deep breath and shook his head.

"You okay?" I asked, stifling a giggle.

"That is soooo not cool!" he answered, a bit angry. "He'd better watch it about the clip-on ties, or I'm not gonna read his book anymore!"

"It's all right," I said soothingly. "He's a cat -- what does he know about ties, anyway?"

"True," Mark admitted, but he still felt stung. He loves cats, and to have his favorite animal diss his favorite article of clothing...well, that really was a slap in the face!

Eventually, he did calm down. He held tightly to his clip-on tie, though. Nothing was gonna come between him and his tie -- not even a cartoon cat.