Hi, I've just joined

For years I thought that I was the only one. For years I considered
myself a freak. I am astonished to find that there are other suffers
of this rather bizarre alfiction.

I really did think that I was alone--a freak of nature.

I cannot wear any clothes item with them on, or even touch one. My
brother and I once dared each other to pick a lose button (it was one
of those ugly small, clear shirt buttons with the two holes) off the
floor as kids and I wasn't going to pick the darn thing up--no way!

I don't mind other people wearing them around me, as long as one
doesn't touch my bare skin.

When wearing them (which I never do), they make me feel ugly and a
freak to all. I also think they smell.

As I am writing, I am getting strong impuslsions to go and smell the
hideous ones on my husband's trench coat, which is just behind me. Any
body else get impuslsions to touch or smell buttons?

I hate every kind of button, but find the round, shiny ones the
worst--especially the flat ones without a rim of any kind. Loose ones
are the Devil, followed by ones with bits of thread dangling from
them. Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!

The smaller, smoother and flatter the button is, the more it makes me
cringe.

Metal ones on jeans don't bother me and neither do wood ones all that
much. It seems to be only plastic ones.

As a child, it branched out into snap-fasters and toggles, but I am ok
with wearing them now.

Of course, my mother never understood, and still dressed me in clothes
with the yucky, horrid things on, until I cried so much that she
finally got the message. School uniform required that I wore a white
shirt, so my parents went to the school and spoke to them, and I was
exempt from the torture.

Alas, the other kids wanted to know why I was wearing a T-shirt, and
being as stupidly, naively open as I was, I told them. Big mistake.

Why is it so darn difficult to find clothes without buttons?
--especially coats. Zips are far superior...

Or why do we even need clothes that fasten? Why can't we just wear
one-piece garments that stretch to fit, like aliens do?

AND WHAT IS THE NEED FOR BUTTONS JUST FOR DECORATIVE PURPOSES? PLEASE
EXPLAIN THIS TO ME...