The Princess and I

This morning, as I was getting dressed, I put my foot into my shoe and I immediately sensed something was amiss. Something was poking into me. It wasn’t the seam (my feet know about seams, they have an understanding), and it wasn’t the shoe. It was something new. I squiggled my toes around to see whether it would go away, but it was still there. I took my shoe off and shook it. Ah HA! There’s the culprit! A tiny piece of a label that I had cut off a shirt earlier (can’t remember if it was from my shirt or from Adam’s) had fallen into my shoe. My first reaction was “I can’t believe I can feel a tiny piece of soft cloth in the bottom of my shoe and my second thought was “That poor princess in the ‘The Princess and the Pea’ was quite clearly sensory defensive, which is why she could feel the pea through the 20 mattresses and 20 feather beds.”

I am so bad at this sensory stuff that I can’t even stand pokey scratchy things on others. My dogs have never worn collars, unless of course if they go for a walk. The thought that the collar might poke and scratch without them being able to tell me drives me crazy.  But when I took the puppies to puppy classes, the teacher said the puppies must wear collars to get used to them. So I put collars on them. For about 3 weeks. I drove Marko crazy. “Do you think they are too tight? I’m sure they are too tight. Do you think they are too heavy? Perhaps the collars are irritating them. Do you think they are ok?” Eventually I just gave in and took them off. MUUUUCH better.

So, I can relate to the Princess. I bet she also wears her panties inside out so that the seams don’t poke into her and I bet her husband, the prince, also gets a little put out the she never wears any of his jewelry (jewelry is horrible and pokey scratchy, can’t wear it). I bet she hardly ever wears make up and ties her hair up all the time. And I bet she’d also feel a tiny piece of cloth at the bottom of her trainers.

You know, you should feel sorry for the Princess and I. It isn’t easy being so full of shit for so much of the time.

Comments

[Orange]

Jewelry is irritating.

There is a special place in hell reserved for clothing manufacturers who trick you by printing the label inside the collar rather than sewing one in there—but then sneak a label in the side seam at your waist, and have it sewn such that removing the tag would leave a hole in your shirt. I am wearing such a shirt right now. Do you know what the side label says? It's crucial information for the consumer: 493055001 300782 HOL'07. Well! I surely wouldn't know how to care for this apparel without that tag.

[Liz]

I don't know if they do that in SA, but in the US a lot of clothing stores I go to have tagless clothes, undies. I love them, my kids love them. I can't stand labels poking on my neck/back.

[Jenty]

LOL, I've never heard of anyone wearing the undies inside out on purpose, but I can understand it. Have you tried the seamless ones from Woolies?

[RainbowW]

pokey things? get a hood piercing. that would be fun to watch. clothes too scratchy? go naked. is what i do.

[margalit]

Right there with you, sistah. I'm the most sensitive person in the world. I barely wear clothes at all. No bras unless I have to, cotton underwear only, jeans drive me batty, don't wear shoes. I don't care if people don't get it. I get it and I have to be comfy or I go insane. And I'm pretty weird about the collar on our cat, too. I check it every freaking day.

[Poli]

Funny story:) It must be very irritating to feel all these things all the time but I'm sure you've got used to it!

[Fi]

I am not ultra-sensitive but I also do not like scratchy labels!

Oddly enough, the other day I bought some jeans-style pants from Foschini. I discovered that the care label was down on the inside seam of the right leg, about ankle height! WTF is with that? Unless you turn them inside out and NOTICE the label, you wouldn't think to look down there! It said 'Made in Indonesia' though, so maybe Indonesians are big into ankle-level care labels on their clothes....

[SCY]

You are just super sensitive cos you are SO uber gorg and divine - simple as that ;)

[sezwho]

I am so with you. I cut the tags out of everything and wear tank tops inside out to sleep in because anything that hits me below the butt area twists around me too much for me to get any sleep. And we have that "line" down the bed too. Anyone crossing over into my territory gets a vicious pillow jab to the eye.

[kristylynne]

I thought of you and your kids the other day when my 2 1/2 year old son was walking around yanking on his shirt and telling me it was tickling him. I cut out the tag, but it still tickled. I was thinking, Oh no, could he be sensory defensive?? And then I finally took off the shirt and figured out that the child-laborers in whatever impoverished country had manufactured it had done something wrong, and there was a rough seam in the shoulder. Threw the damn shirt away with great relief.

[mandy]

You know, it took me until this past year to realize that I've got some sensitivies that are not the norm. I can NOT wear shoes without socks. OMG, torture. Turtlenecks or even tshirts that have the regular collar (vs a V, U or similar shape) make me feel as if I am choking. hair in the ponytail because I can't stand the way it feels in my face/on my neck? check. brutal.

The collar thing makes me cringe just thinking about it.

[Rachel]

Oh dear, I got such a laugh from this because I know exactly what you mean! For years, I couldn't stand those socks that have a seam at the end, I would go ballistic if I could feel it. What a relief when I discovered the ones that have the seam on top, where I can't feel it. My pet peeve now is the tag near the bottom of the shirt...it is completely useless and horribly scratchy! I mean really, why even put those in there? I'm not so stupid that I can't figure out what cycle to wash a cotton tank top on. My other pet peeve doesn't have to do with touch, but it's the noise that people make when they chew on silverware....it makes my teeth hurt...I know it sounds crazy, but people do it all the time without noticing it!