Half Way through the Dress Dare

I can't believe the month of May is already half way over. It has gone by so quickly, but then again my life has been pretty fast paced lately.

I just thought I'd check in and see if anyone else is still hanging in with the dress dare and is still wearing skirts and dresses!

I have been doing pretty good at the dare. I've worn a skirt or dress everyday this month so far. The only times I've worn pants have been to weed the yard and when we went salmon fishing in Oregon last week-- I figured those counted as "sports" in my book.

I've learned several things so far about myself and about dress wearing the last few weeks:

•  I don't like having to wear a skirt. In the weeks leading up to this dress dare I was already wearing skirts and dresses several times a week and I was loving it. In fact, I didn't have any desire to wear pants or shorts at all. Yet as soon as I made it a rule that I couldn't wear pants I started to resent wearing skirts. I've found myself cursing my skirts this week and wishing I could wear pants. I think what discovered is that I like having the choice. While I think that after this I will wear skirts much more than I did before, I like knowing that if I wanted I could wear pants. Besides there are times when wearing pants is really just easier. For example, I thought it would be fun to wear a big flowing skirt on the beach while we were in Oregon. Wrong. I ended up having to safety pin it together in about 10 places and even then it still wanted to fly above my head. That was when I was cursing this dress dare the most. 

• When I wear a skirt everyday it makes getting dressed for church different. Before when I got dressed for church any old skirt would do-- denim, casual, fancy, frilly-- it didn't matter what type it was because a skirt was a skirt. Now that I am wearing skirts  I've divided them into "day dresses" and "church dresses". I selected my nicest and fanciest skirts and dresses and set them apart as my church dresses and wear my more causal ones during the week. As a result I've found that I have been much more dressed up and "formal" at church than I was before. I like it a lot. It really makes me feel like I am putting on my "Sunday Best" and I think it has helped me keep the Sabbath day better than I did before.

• The fuller the skirt the more comfortable and easier it is to wear. I now completely understand why women wore full length dresses. When your dress is long enough, and the skirt isn't very tight, you have a HUGE range of motion. You can sit cross legged, climb trees, chase around little kids on the floor and just about everything else you want to do (except for walking on the beach in the wind) without  reducing your range of motion or worry about being immodest. I am finding that some nf my favorite skirts are the ones that hit me about mid-calf and have full wide skirts.  They are pretty much like wearing pants, except much more comfy. 

• I haven't ONCE been asked why I was wearing a skirt. I have found this odd, my only explanations are that 1) maybe no one notices, 2) everyone reads my blog ( I wish!) and so they know what I am up to, or 3) they already know that I am a bit of an odd fish and just chalk it up as one of my strange qualities.

Overall, I am still finding that I like wearing skirts and that I like how they make me feel. There is something about doing more "manly" things-- say, mowing the lawn or loading couches into a moving van-- in a skirt that brings me a lot of joy. But then again I am an odd fish.

I am still pondering and researching on the questions I had but I will share those insights later. In the meantime I'd love to hear how the dress dare is going for you!

Dress Dare

A year ago one of my blogging friends  posted that she was doing the "Dress Dare" hosted by the young Catholic women who blog at "Defining Beauty". Here is the details of their dare.

Here we go!

The Official Rules are:

Wear dresses and skirts throughout the month of May.

Exceptions:  Snoozing {zzz} and Exercising.

Honor Mary, grow closer to Jesus.

Be beautiful--- be YOU!

My first reaction to the dare was NO WAY HOSEA!

I couldn't fathom how anyone could wear a dress every day, for a whole month. It seemed a little crazy to me and not a bit of fun.  I found myself thinking, "Come on this is the 21st century! Didn't our great-grandmothers fight so that we wouldn't have to wear dresses? Why would you revert back?" 

Then after Abe was born I found myself wearing lots of skirts (because none of my pants fit) and much to my surprise I discovered that I really loved wearing skirts. They made me feel different-- in a good way-- and now, even though my pants fit again, I find I am still wearing skhrts more than I used to.

In the last few months I have been thinking about this scripture in Deuteronomy 22:5, in which Moses gives instructions to the children of Israel.

The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God.

I don't really understand  the whole context of why or where this counsel was given, but I am intrigued by the fact that it was given. I not even sure if the counsel is talking about dresses or not because people dressed differently back then. Yet I have been impressed that this was something a prophet of God felt compelled to counsel his people about. And obviously even back in Moses time it appears there was some cross dressing going on! I'd like to understand if there is something more to this scripture that I don't understand.

Is there spiritual significance in having men and women dress differently?

What are the consequences when men and women begin to dress the same, or to switch traditional clothing?

Have women lost something, something I can't even put my finger on, because we don't wear dresses any more?   

These are questions I'd like better answers to.

So this May I am going to take the Dress Dare and wear a skirt every day this month (except for today because I forgot that it was May 1st and I am wearing jeans, oops:) only making exceptions for sleeping and sports.

It is sort of an experiment.

First, I want to see if I can actually do it and second, I hope to figure out a little bit more about what that scripture in Deuteronomy means to me and try to find answers to my questions.

Besides, every time I wear a dress Rose tells me I am " pretty princess"-- so I'll have some good moral support

Anyone else up for the challenge?