What Now

IRRATIONAL FEARS -- 1

I grew up in a very small town. I'm not sure you can even call where I lived a "town" exactly. I lived on a cattle farm on the outskirts of the small town, Athens, AL, if you want to get technical. Because of that, any time we went into Athens proper, we referred to it as "Goin' to town." Specifically, we called going to Wal-Mart "Goin to town." I know that probably sounds silly if you didn't grow up in a place similar to where I did. But, I digress.

Goin' to town was an event. It isn't like now, where I live a literal few minutes from just about everything I need and will just jump in the car and go. Going to town took preparation. We put on nicer clothes, fixed our hair and make-up and made sure we were decent before going to town. It was just the way we did it back then.

These days, I still have the habit of making myself decent before heading out to Wal-Mart or Target or wherever, but I'm not as scrupulous as I used to be. If I'm in the middle of a project and need something, it's likely I'll just slap on lip-gloss and a hat, make sure I'm decently clothed and go get what I need. I'm careful, you see.

However, there have been rare days when I've really, really needed something and didn't have the time to even reach for the lip gloss. I've gone to Wal-Mart in my PJ's, or in clothes that I have pulled out of the hamper, with crazy hair and no makeup. These are the days that worry me.

As careful as I am about not looking homeless, even when going to Wal-Mart, I've got this fear that one day, when I'm in the middle of some crisis when I need something badly enough that I have abandoned all pretenses of civilized behavior, someone is going to take my picture and I'm going to end up on People of Wal-Mart.