Dressing strangely seems to be something of a genetic thing in my family. Not strangely as in Lady Gaga, but strangely as in dressing in ways that are easily misinterpreted by strangers. I love pleated skirts and plaid, and I look very young--alone plaid pleated skirts are unremarkable but it makes me look rather like a high school girl.
I recently found out my late grandfather had a similar habit.
Many eons before Steve Jobs would become famous, my grandfather frequently wore turtlenecks and sport coats. First of all, nobody looks good in this combination. Not even Steve Jobs did but nobody had the balls to tell him because he was worth more than you and your entire family combined. But it made him look like something he wasn't. Catholic priests don't have to wear the collar all the time, everywhere they go, but tend as a group to gravitate towards a shirt-and-jacket dress code.
Which is why everybody mistook my grandfather for a priest.
People at my parent's wedding were going up to him and kissing his hand and calling him 'Father'. Every few minutes my mom had to explain to the curious that no, they did not invite the priest to the reception (most people don't do this in NY), that the man was her father-in-law and please stop confessing.
At least I know I'm not the first person in my family to have this kind of habit. I expect I'm not the last either.
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