Who's Got The Button?

This morning we decided to go to 9:00 Mass at 8:30, so I had to hustle to get ready. I brushed my teeth, combed my hair, threw on some makeup, then went into my closet and quickly put on a corduroy jumper with a tee shirt underneath. I added pantyhose and shoes. The whole process took ten minutes, and we walked out the door with plenty of time to spare.

I've had this hunter green, wide-wale corduroy jumper for several years. It's been washed enough that it's nice and soft. It buttons down the front, has a deep v neck, and two large pockets. The only (minor) problem with it is the length. It stops right above the knee, and the bottom button's about six inches above the hem. You have to be careful how you sit when you're wearing it.

Even though I only had hose on, I didn't take the extra time to get my dress coat out of the closet. I grabbed the everyday one, which is car coat length. I was glad that Tony volunteered to drive; that let me check my hair in the visor mirror and clean my glasses before we pulled into the church parking lot. When I was getting out of the car I felt something "pop". I looked down and the bottom button of my jumper was gone! I found it on the ground up by the front tire, picked it up, and put it in my wallet.

With the button gone, the relatively modest slit at the front of my jumper was now substantially less modest. I did my best to hold the bottom of the dress down as we walked through the lot and into the church. We picked out our seat and I carefully entered the pew trying to figure out how I'd get through the next hour of standing, kneeling, and sitting.

It ended up not being as much of a problem as I feared. Standing wasn't a problem; the back of the pew in front my me hid the large gap. When I sat, I kept the missal in my lap. The hardest part was getting into and out of the kneeling position, but once I was there no one could see anything below my waist. I walked up to communion very carefully, taking small steps so the bottom of the jumper wouldn't swing too much.

The weather was quite cold today, and we didn't stop to talk to anyone outside the building. I waved to a couple of people as I went straight to the car. I was happy to get there without any problems.