Friday, September 9, 2011

It's in my genes ...

It's the start of the school year (though my daughter isn't in school and it doesn't feel like fall) and I think back to corduroys and turtlenecks. No matter how warm it was.

I called my mom last week, 'How was your first day at school? Did you wear your corduroys?'
We laughed together.I rarely remember wearing jeans as a child.

Maybe that's why I don't buy them for my daughter. I hate how they fit. When she was little and teeny-tiny, they always bit at the belly and met at the feet. My opposite. Mine are always large at the waist and long at the leg. That's what happens when you're 5'2-1/2" and a plus-sized momma. And they don't always make "ankle length" jeans for you.


And yet, sometimes there's nothing like a good, old comfy pair. I have a few like that. A few I hold onto, despite the hole in the back of the leg, right under my butt cheek. You know the pair. The one you'll never wear again because even a patch or a stitch wouldn't fix them.

Then there are the pairs that sit, neatly folded, at the top of my closet. The pairs that don't fit. Haven't in years. But they were favorites once. One pair with light pinkish-purple flowers on them. And the other a dark, dark blue. The dark ones get on, but don't close. Do I think they ever will? Probably not. But for some reason I can't let them go just yet. I've tried. I promise.

The most insane pair of jeans I can remember is a two-toned pair. I'm dating myself, but I can see the picture of me. In my new jeans (I was never really one for acid wash, these pre-dated those) standing out in front of my parents' house. In front of my mother's car. Posing. Proudly.

It was possibly taken after I had lost 40 pounds on Weight Watchers, but that might be my mind playing tricks on me. Surely I hadn't been on WW that young? Or maybe I wasn't actually that young. Was I?

The picture is packed away along with other memories. I don't still have THOSE jeans, but I do remember them.

It's amazing how a pair of jeans can make you feel. Horribly fat and huge if they are stiff as a board or don't close. A little bit lighter if the waist happens to breathe some. A few inches taller if they're just the right pair to wear with heels.

Then there were the college days. Jeans and boobie shirts. Bodysuits. We were girls, women - wearing bodysuits that snapped at the crotch. Big girl onesies! Can you imagine? I know you can. Some of you, anyway. Sometimes I tossed a flannel shirt on over them. Sometimes not. Amazing what the mind and body remember.

My hair, longer than ever back then. Crazy wavy. Chunky-heeled shoes.
Or boots. How I loved to wear jeans with boots.

Or the pair I wore on a weekend away with my husband. We went to Lake George, horseback riding. My jeans ripped as I mounted the horse. Mortifying! Now that I think about it, those might be the ripped under the butt pair I mentioned earlier. See? Wouldn't that just be me? I hold onto everything that holds sentiment. Even a pair of jeans.

I can't help it. I'm just like my mom. It's in my genes.


10 comments:

  1. It's always when they're at that most comfy that they rip too. I remember all the colored corduroys, but they used to always get that fade mark on the butt!

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  2. Of course I've had that favorite pair of jeans. The ones that are so soft worn, the knees feel like Kleenex. Then the knees go and there is something about of "woman of a certain age" walking around in ripped jeans that is just shouting "It's not 1975 lady!" Big sigh..... So they have to go.

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  3. OMG -- those body-suits. Wonder why we thought those were a good idea. And with a flannel shirt. Actually, it was the flannel shirt that I kept for several decades....now THAT was comfy!

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  4. Adore that you do the 1/2", I am 5'1 1/2"! A fellow short plus size momma! I have found jeans at Lane Bryant in the short section that fit pretty well.

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  5. I'm 5'2 1/2 so I get you on the length and fit of jeans. it's hard to find a comfortable pair. I remember colored corduroy and had a fav brown pair.

    Great post full of jean memories.

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  6. I love corduroys...I haven't had a good pair in many many years, but I loved mine. When I find a good pair of jeans, too, I do everything I can to make them last and last! Oh, and I remember the bodysuits, too! What were we thinking?

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  7. I have jeans that fit, but that I wear only as "yard" pants. I am not sure why I need them. I don't really wear them that often.

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  8. Oh my GOD! The onesies! I totally wore those...with the flannel...and the Doc Martens. We must be around the same age. I'm 36. Ha!

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  9. My mom wouldn't let me have the bodysuits... but jeans and Doc Martins carried me through my teens and early twenties!

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  10. Every pair of jeans you just mentioned? In my closet this very minute. AND I'm currently shopping for a pair that fits the body I have NOW. Oh, the body suit, the onesie for grown (um 21 year olds) women? I had one. In black velvet. wore it with a flannel and black chunky heels. And too much hair. You're awesome.

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