20 and 8 and Today

Twenty years ago.

That's the last time I can remember wearing jeans.

Honest to God, Button at the top, zip 'em up REAL Blue Jeans.

I can remember in junior high and high school, lying down on the bed and zipping up the jeans. We always wanted them to be so tight. The bigger I got, the tighter they got.

Then, college days came along and I got so big that the only jeans I could find were the ones that had elastic waists. Those were the kinds of pants that old ladies wore and as an 18- or 19-year old, I was NOT going to wear those.

I think that's when I went to wearing the tried and true black pants. The stretchy material ones that you find at Avenue. I have probably had 100's of pairs of these over the years - the same pants. Just different vintages. EVERY now and then, I'd get it in a color - green or blue. It's been my uniform for 20 years.

Yes, they are elastic-waisted - but they weren't "fake" jeans.

Eight years ago.

I had just moved to California and was shopping at an Avenue store on Beverly Blvd. They had a whole wall of blue jeans just sitting there - taunting me. They went up to the size I was wearing at the time. So I took one into the fitting room.

Now, blue jeans material doesn't have that special "give" that my tried and true black pants have - so they didn't even come close to fitting. But, in my never-ending attitude of "I'm going to lose this weight," I bought those jeans.

I lived in Hollywood at the time. Between now and then, those jeans have moved with me from Hollywood to Pasadena to Sherman Oaks to Plano (Apartment) and now to the Plano house.

They have always either sat there in a bureau drawer or hanging on a hanger in the closet - just waiting for me. Over the years, I've tested them. Each time, they were quietly folded or hung back up and put to the back of the bureau, the back of the closet - the back of my mind.

Today.

I was cleaning out my closets of the last of the things I had recently been told I can no longer wear because they are now too big. As I rifled through the spare closet, the jeans peeked out and caught my eye once again.

I grabbed that hanger and carried it to my room. I looked them up and down and thought - why not see how close you are now.

Today - for the first time in almost 20 years - I wore REAL blue jeans.

Today - I walked around the house in a pair of REAL blue jeans.*

Today - I SAT down in a pair of REAL blue jeans.

Today - I cried.

Tears of Joy!

Of course I was careful to not get the tears on those REAL blue jeans - in case they shrank!!



*I didn't wear them outside of the house 'cause I wanted Alek to be the first one to see me in a pair of jeans. He got the biggest grin on his face and gave me a big ol' smooch. He's so proud of me!