Part 8 - just a gap filler

Shortly after the cocktail party event, I made some stupid personal choices and decisions and really screwed my life up in many ways through the 1990's, but I'm not going to go into any of that. Suffice it to say that my wife and I separated ( not directly because of my dressing), eventually divorced, and then in the early 2000's I met somebody else and remarried. Through all of this Anne crawled back into her box and hid where she was safe, and I just didn't dress at all.

I had told my new wife about my past before we married but she wasn't enamoured with the idea and I expected nothing and kept Anne hidden safely in her box. One day in 2010, as part of a jokey conversation, she bet me that I couldn't still walk in heels. Well, that triggered something and, with most of Anne's stuff including shoes, up in the loft, that was it! A few minutes later I strutted back in to her and said "SEE?, Who can't?". First time I'd worn heels for well over 10 years but it felt completely normal and comfortable. It also opened the lid on Anne's box...

Anyway, I started dressing properly again, just around the house. She wasn't very happy about it and eventually she told a friend of hers who lived a few miles away but she was fine about it. One day in conversation this friend mentioned that she was having a problem with getting to the airport to go on holiday, so I volunteered to take her and collect her again on return. Came the day and I dressed in a grey suit and boots and off we went. No bother until we got to the airport. I hadn't been to Birmingham Airport in quite a few years and they now had a drop-off carpark with barriers, which hadn't been there before. I had major problems with the barrier and ended up having to use the Help phone to get it lifted, and a man came to see what the problem was, etc. No problems actually but a bit panicky even so.
For the return flight, we got there in plenty of time, but the barrier was Ok so we wandered on over to Arrivals. The plane was delayed! We had to hang around doing nothing for about 45mins and I felt every eye in the airport looking at me. I'm not particularly tall but about 5'11' in heels so I felt gigantic alongside my wife who is just under 5ft and, rightly or wrongly, I felt that disparity drew attention. I hadn't been out in public for almost 20 years and my confidence was gone and I haven't been out fully dressed since.

We went to Egypt on holiday in 2016, and had a wonderful time. I wasn't dressed but Anne got pampered anyway, but that's a story for the next episode...