Nothing steams me more than shirts with button-down collars.  Why anyone would put buttons on a man’s collar is a mystery to me.  I have one white shirt with a button-down collar that I avoid at all costs.  For the life of me I can’t make my clumsy fingers force those tiny buttons through those itty-bitty holes that I can’t even see.

Sometimes I’m forced to wear that particular white shirt.  At other times I have it on before I realize what shirt it is.  This morning after 15 unsuccessful tries at buttoning the right-hand button I finally went to Marjorie with my complaint.  In one swift movement she buttoned my collar, and then said:

“I don’t mind buttoning your buttons; but if I were you, I’d button your collar buttons before you put on your shirt.”

That statement hit me like a revelation.  How simple!  How obvious.  What a great solution!  That had never, ever occurred to me, and probably never would.  I might have spent the rest of my life muttering about the stupidity of men’s button-down shirt collars.

That is a great example of thinking outside the box.  I’m living with a genius.