When I was a kid, we used to joke that a sweater is something you put on when your mother is cold. Now that I’m a father, I hear me saying things like, “Take a sweater. You can always leave it in the car.”

As you can see, I don’t want to be like my mother. I don’t tell my kids to put on a sweater. I tell them to take one with them. Call me practical because I’m always prepared.

Call me experienced because I’ve learned that two things stop us having fun. The constant what-if in our minds and Murphy’s Law. According to the one, things will go wrong. Thanks to the other, we kill the moment by imagining what if things go wrong.

Call me wise because I know that being prepared actually makes it possible for me to have more fun. Which is why, Mother, I always take a sweater.

Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.