A Great Pair of Pants
Posted on May 23, 2005 4 Comments
I have this really great pair of black pants. I honestly would wear them every day if I could. They never wrinkle, never stain (stains just rinse right off), make my legs look long and my waist small. The best part about them? They were free. A taller friend accidentally shrunk them and handed them down to me, and because my legs are just a wee bit short, they fit perfectly.
The problem? I got them in college. They’re more than five years old. And they’re starting to show their age.
I’ve spent months looking for the perfect pair of replacement-everyday-black-workpants to no avail. In the process, I’ve tried on probably 50 pairs, bought two and returned one. I also own a closet full of black pants that started out with tons of promise but never made the grade (too difficult to care for, not quite the right length, etc.).
Why are the right pants so hard to find? I’ve been to high-end and low-end stores, but nothing, it seems, is cut for me. I’d be willing to pay a higher price to find a pair I could wear every day (remember my per-use theory?) . Unfortunately, finding the combination of a good price, the right cut, ease of care and style is like locating the Holy Grail. (OK…a bit dramatic.)
Even worse, I still love my old black pants. No matter how many times I’ve tried to send them to GoodWill, they never make the cut! I look at those pants and remember my trip to Spain, the committees I chaired in college, my good friends, my first job, parties in the city. The places I’ve been in those pants seem as real as the places I believed I was going in those pants. I wore my black pants with all the confidence in the world and not a care, never realizing I might not experience those moments, those places, those people again.
So forgive me for holding on to those old black pants. They may look shabby to the untrained eye, but to me, they represent all the hope, joy and eagerness of an age that sits on the cusp of childhood and adulthood, a time when the world’s possibilities seem endless and the experiences so deep and meaningful I can still taste, smell, touch them.
I may have closed some doors over the past few years – friends may be gone, summers have passed – but the girl who once wore those fabulous black pants stood at the top of the world, ready for life’s greatest thrills.
***
Things I bought/Things I didn’t buy update:
What I bought:
An amazing green dress from a store in Oak Park called Anana’s. This store is typically really overpriced, but this dress seemed very reasonable at $99. I bought it to wear to my brother’s graduation and plan to save it for weddings that are coming up next year. It reminds me of the 1970′s, and is green like M&M’s! It’s fantastic, I tell you!
I also bought two gifts this weekend, one is a little blue blanket for a Christening from the Old Town Emporium and the other was chocolate covered strawberries from The Fudge Pot in Old Town. I can’t tell you how much these were (they’re gifts!), but they did fall in my monthly allowance for gifts.
Today I bought some ferns for my flower boxes. At $14, they will provide hours worth of activity and lasting beauty for the season. Bellisimo! Of course this neccesitated a trip to Target for shovels and potting soil (which I could not find), where I also picked up a reading lamp and some new flip-flops. Dang it!
What I didn’t buy:
- The new Blue Indigo candles from Pier One. Oh my gosh, they smell so good.
- Wind catcher/wind chime from Pier One… or from this little shop on Marion Street where they sold hand made and even more expensive products.
- Candles from the Old Town Emporium… or anything else for myself there, for that matter. Willpower!
- BEADS GALORE from this bead store in Old Town. The most beautiful stuff, I swear. I had beads for three necklaces, wire and clippers in my hand before I realized what I was doing and left the store immediately.
- Tee shirts and a skirt from Target. Pillows from Target. Towels from Target. You get the picture. (And these really freakin’ cool silver ballet shoes. I decided flippers were more practical.)
- Tickets to a movie on Saturday night, opting for SNL instead. Boo.
- Gardening gloves. I stopped at the shovel. Nevermind that I don’t have a yard.
Yeah, I could have done better. I sort of got carried away by the beautiful spring weather. As you can tell, I spent a lot of my spare time walking around various Chicagoland shops in different neighborhoods.
Now I’m off to bed to use my new reading lamp doing a crossword puzzle. G’Night!
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4 Responses to “A Great Pair of Pants”
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May 23rd, 2005 @ 1:00 pm
Ha! What a riot. My wife has several pieces of clothing she got when she was in high school/college and she too is dreading the day they’ll wear out!
May 23rd, 2005 @ 5:08 pm
I know what you mean! I have a hard time finding pants too. I have about a zillion pairs that are just not quite perfect. Either they are dry-clean only, or the length only works with a pair of uncomfortable shoes, or the pockets pucker or something else is wrong with them.
May 31st, 2005 @ 10:58 pm
Have you tried getting any of the newer pants altered? I had a great pair of jeans that I fit when I’ve eaten half a goat (thank God). Since I don’t plan on eating that much, I had them altered for about $15, which was way cheaper than buying a new pair. They fit great, I feel thin, and I can still wear my great jeans!
I also had a bunch of clothing I didn’t need in my arms, ready to buy, when I was at Marshalls the other day. The line to checkout was really long, and I was short on time, so I finally said “forget it”, put the stuff back and left the store. I feel somewhat deprived, but my wallet doesn’t!.
January 22nd, 2012 @ 12:52 pm
[...] where I am today. Oy. I wish things were as simple as when my biggest care in the world was finding a great pair of black pants. When did things change so [...]