The Great Nightgown Debacle

First of all, let me say that I had no idea that buying a new nightgown could be so difficult… and made even more so by trying to buy one with husband in tow.

Recently I decided that I wanted a night gown. I have lots of pajamas tops, bottoms, t-shirts, flannels… but not a nightgown. Having someone else in the house has reminded me that some of my sleeping attire is inappropriate for company so I thought having a nice light summery nightgown wouldn’t be a bad idea.

I did my usual looking around on-line (I don’t shop for clothes in stores anymore.) I checked Old Navy, Gap, JMS, Wal-Mart, Target… you know, the general locations but never found anything quite what I wanted. I figured I’d just go without and sleep in my hot pajamas that I already had.

Yesterday while out running errands we happened to park next to Macy’s at the mall, and instead of walking to the general entrance doors in the hot hot sun we chose to cut through the store. I do always like walking through the china section. Inevitably, that meant that when we left the mall we’d walk through the store again on our way out. After getting what we needed we passed back through the department store on the way out but took “the long way” around. I looked at crockery, mattresses, ties, kid clothes… and eventually we passed the ladies lingerie sections and I remembered: “Oh, yeah, I wanted a nightgown.”  

In my younger days when I worked at ZCMI, before it was Meyer & Frank, before it was Macy’s, I remember them having nice nightgowns that I had always admired, but was too cheap and loved my holy plaid pajama bottoms too much to ever buy. I thought it would be a good idea to see what they had. With John in tow I dragged him through the bras to the sleepwear section and pretty quickly I spotted a nice gown that I *thought* would be perfect. It was cute, blue with little flowers and some lace and buttons at the neckline… but from behind me I hear “That’s an old lady nightgown.” I guess I should say that what I was looking for was just a nice knee length gown, with short/cap sleeves, made of cotton or another light/summer appropriate material. Apparently, this style = grandma. John picked out the long flowy ones, the short slinky ones, the silky ones, the expensive sleeveless ones… all cute but not what I was going for. Then I figured it out. I started showing him the really grandma ones. You know the ones: textured print, light flannel, zippered house coats, ugly ones, floral ones. Eventually working my way back to that first style that I picked out. Eventually he just threw his hands in the air and told me to get whatever I wanted because he didn’t care. (Really? If he didn’t care would he have made the grandma comment in the first place.)

I finally settled on a cure pink one, just the style I wanted with a little lace and some cute buttons. It wasn’t the first one I picked out, but it’s one I like. I just never knew that my choosing a sensible nightgown was going to cause John to have an apoplexy. But now I know that I’m just getting old because I like modest nightgowns… I guess it goes well with my gray hair.