T he previous night Chaim had laughed at the discussions about proper Visiting Day attire.
“It’s a regular day in camp what’s the big deal? No one cares: tie camp T-shirt tuxedo whatever. Everyone should just figure it out. It doesn’t need a special panel by the Agudah convention to decide.”
But after all that he’d woken up on Visiting Day morning uncertain about it. He’d stood idly in front of the tiny closet weighing his options. He knew that people would be talking about him all day wondering what he did and how he was managing. There would be people from the neighborhood and shul and he had no doubt that they were all preparing reports for friends and family: You were at Neos Deshe? Did you see Reimer? What a weird story how’s that working out?
So it was a dilemma after all. To wear the bright Camp Neos Deshe T-shirt over a regular shirt like his father-in-law did would make it look like he was trying to take over his father-in-law’s role. To wear a tie — more administrative — would make it look like the same old Chaim Reimer from Flatbush offering sound advice about using retirement funds before they’d fully matured. It would be as if he hadn’t changed. And he had.
