You're never wrong with a tie

With a hot, hot summer, and a desire to dig in dirt and sand, Oliver's sole attire week after week had been casual shorts, t-shirts and the only pair of shoes he owned in his size, a pair of Keen sandals. His wardrobe had fit his needs for the summer, but when the invitation arrived for the wedding of one of Chris's cousins, I took one look at Oliver (who happened to be jumping in a mud puddle at that moment) and sounding way too much like my grandmother, exclaimed, "I can't take him to a wedding looking like that!"

We have a saying in our family - you're never wrong with a tie. According to my grandmother, when my dad was a "youngster" he was invited somewhere and my grandmother said he had to wear a tie and he said nobody else would have a tie on, to which she replied "You're never wrong with a tie." And that's how an off-hand retort became an ingrained belief in my family. So even though we're not otherwise formal-dressing people, there are situations in which the men in my family would never consider not wearing a tie, even if they forgo a jacket and pair it with a casual button-down shirt and pair of khakis.

Despite warnings to the contrary, Oliver tolerated his very grown-up looking outfit, even the the clip-on tie, and he had a great time at the wedding. He played on the church playground during the ceremony, ran around the golf course during the reception and even got a ride on a golf cart after his Uncle Andy talked an employee into loaning them the cart. He even got away with a couple of mini tantrums, probably of course, because you're never wrong with a tie.