My inspiration, Part 2

I was asked by a close friend to be his child's godfather.  I was honored.  I still am honored; but I was also anxious.  I knew that this meant being in pictures.  In a suit.  In front of everyone.  I didn't have a suit that fit, but I had plenty of time.  Surely I was just going to lose some weight to fit back into the old suit starting tomorrow.  Yeah, tomorrow.  Always tomorrow.  I waited for so many tomorrows that it was 2 days before the baptism before I decided to go look for a new suit.  Before George Zimmer started guaranteeing that I'd like the way I look, he used to sell his suits by talking about businessmen being able to get the clothes they needed very quickly.  He was the Domino's Pizza of suits.

I thought for sure that I was going to be laughed out of Men's Wearhouse when they took the tape to my chest and waist.  And when I walked in wearing a pair of cargo shorts and a polo, no one even looked at me.

At once I knew how Julia Robert's character felt in Pretty Woman when she went shopping on Rodeo Drive.  I figured they looked at my clothes and my size and concluded that I was too broke to afford what they sold and too fat to fit into it even if I had the cash.

I was wrong.  The folks at Men's Wearhouse were great, yet I was still embarrassed.  I told the salesman that I was concerned about being able to find something to fit.  It turns out that America is getting fatter so Men's Wearhouse decided to start stocking Big & Tall stuff without labeling as such.  Thanks America!  So I stood there and they measured me, showed me a few things, and made me look good.  It was a Friday and the baptism was on Sunday.  The turnaround time was amazing.  I walked in at noon and they had my suit tailored and ready by 5pm.

They also separated me from about $1000.

One.  Thousand.  Dollars.

All because I was too fat to fit into the perfectly good suit hanging in my closet.

Looking like a thousandth of a million bucks (August 2012)