Choking-on-Windsor

Bless my beautiful daughters, both of them. At this moment I am especially thinking of Sarah the elder, the one who is soon to give me a son-in-law. (In spite of the thoughts that follow here, I am thinking of her fondly :c)

I've never been sold on the western male formal tradition of tightening one's collar and wrapping a bit of decorative fabric about one's throat, so of course I never became skilled at tie-tying. When I got married, my groomsman nobly reached around from behind and secured my just-purchased only tie in a neat knot. That knot remained tied for over 29 years, until today. Because today I began to practice.

Oh, I know, if you've seen me at church or some other formal gathering in the past couple of years, I have indeed sometimes been accessorized with a strip of cloth suspended below my Adam's apple. But let the truth be known: I use clip-ons. Until now.

It seems my blessed elder daughter began her wedding preparations by purchasing a tie for her old man to ensure that he would be attired in keeping with her chosen color theme. No quibbles with the color, it's a very attractive tie. It's just that this particular decorative strip is designed to look best TIED... and to be honest, that leaves me, the recognized master of many knots when it comes to hitching gear to the roof of the family truckster, feeling like Fumblethumbs.

So to the internet I go... hey, look, there are umpteen different possible knots to choose from! None of them are spelled N-O-T, I suppose... no, we have the Double Windsor, the Half Windsor (What? No plain old Single Windsor?), the Four-In-Hand, the Pratt... the Noose... I think I will call whichever one I settle on the "Out-Of-Hand."

So I will untie my old tie (wouldn't want to mess up the new one, ya know) and I will stand in front of the mirror and dutifully practice. A well-tied tie, I'm sure someone told me once, attracts no attention. And I wouldn't want to upstage my darling daughter, now would I?

PS: Until today, my old tie was waiting faithfully in the closet with the suit I got married in. (What do you mean? Of COURSE it still fits! It's only 29 years old!) I'll be walking Sarah down the aisle in a new suit, but I'm secretly hoping the old one will be back in style, and the right color, for the day it's Anna's turn! :c) I mean, it's not like that old tie is worn out, and the fabric seems to have memorized the knot!