Feb 21, 2018 3 min read

There I was packing for a weekend getaway and deciding what to wear that evening. I am a seasoned traveler and could easily live out of a suitcase and hotel room for months. However, it does take women some extra time to pack, as you ladies can attest. I always envy men who seem to throw a few golf shirts, two pairs of shorts and a bathing suit into a suitcase and be ready for a week at the beach. One guy I know would wear his sandals no matter the weather so he wouldn’t have to pack any shoes. I’ve been known to pack a different pair of shoes for each day. I read that when packing for a trip, you should lay out everything you’d like to take, then only pack half of it. I’m not quite adept at paring down to half, but I have become very efficient. Still, I can’t envision a day when I wear a pair of sandals on the plane and pair them with every outfit for an entire week.

Back to choosing an outfit. What to wear for an informal event? How about a cute dress with a casual jacket. But, wait – now I have to wear tights or pantyhose. Do I match the color of the dress or the shoes? Opaque or sheer? Which shoes? Nothing seemed to look right. After wasting a half hour of my life agonizing over these decisions, I completely changed course and went with jeans, a cute top and snazzy jacket. I didn’t feel like wearing pantyhose anyway. Now I had to switch shoes and jewelry, then finish packing something to wear for the next two days.

When I finished, I looked at the clock and couldn’t believe how much time had passed. How much of my life have I wasted agonizing over which pantyhose to wear or which earrings matched? Then add on hair and makeup. That adds at least one pound (and knowing some of my girlfriends, up to 10 pounds) of weight in your suitcase with a makeup bag and cosmetics case stuffed with all sorts of potions and hair appliances. Consider the hours we spend blow drying, curling or straightening our hair, plus shopping for and applying makeup. I read somewhere that the average woman actually consumes seven pounds of lipstick in her lifetime. No wonder we have to keep reapplying.

It makes me wonder what would happen if the average man had to go through all of this? What if the guys you know had to wear pantyhose? Can you imagine the complaining if they had to squeeze themselves into Spanx and control-top hose? Choosing a foundation shade and walking in heels without falling and chipping their nail polish? Think how much longer it would take them to get ready. Although, I don’t envy them having to shave every morning.

Kristin Emery can be reached at kristinemery1@yahoo.com.