Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Losing your pants

Once upon a time, there was a fair maiden who found herself in a quandary: after her most recent pregnancy she vowed to never wear maternity pants again.

But in doing so she cursed herself to only one pair of non-maternity pants given to her by a kind princess. She wore that pair everywhere: parties, luncheons, gardening, church, balls, galas, cooking, cleaning, even bathing the children.

A nearby Duke and Duchess noticed she ALWAYS wore these jeans and took pity on the fair maiden, purchasing 2 new pair for her: blue and black. The maiden was overjoyed that she had received such gifts from the beloved Duke. But the old favorite jeans stayed in rotation, for she could not throw them out.

Days turned into months, and the maiden finally began to realize her favorite jeans were coming to the end of their days. At each wearing, she'd hope they would make it through the wash one more time.

All things must come to an end...and so the fair maiden gently put them on one more time. A small thread bare patch had appeared in the middle of her thigh.

The maiden had a choice, to move the jeans to the "work" pile and wear them for cleaning and gardening, or she could release them to their destiny. If she kept them, she would inevitably end up wearing them out in public to the store or to pick up kids...and that simply could not happen.

Giving them up would release the beloved jeans to be free of this current life's encumbrances and move on to a more restful place. No more striving, working, washing, rubbing, being spit up on, wiped on, thrown around with all the other dirty laundry - instead, they might have a chance for adventure, to explore wherever the garbage truck took them.

The maiden grabbed the tiny hole and pulled, forever sealing their fate (she has never liked ripped pants, even in high school). The ripping saddened her heart at the passing of all the memories they had shared, yet brought joy at the future before her. There must be more pants out there and more memories to make.

Thank you to the sweet princess and the kind Duke and Duchess who are with this maiden on her journey.

Epilogue:
Secretly the maiden had known that these favorite pants wouldn't last forever, even if her heart refused to believe. Behold, the winter has passed, and spring is here...so she spent a little time on ebay looking for capris.

She found just the right ones, and won the auction. 4 capris, coming right up. In fact, the day before the ripping, the capris arrived...but alas, there were not 4 capris.

Actually, it was one capri and 3 long pants - to replace the one I lost. Cast your jeans upon the water, for after many days they will return to you, wagging their tails behind them.

Jesus knows what I need - even if it's pants.

2 comments:

Amy said...

But do they fit? Those jeans were really really well loved before they appeared in your kingdom:)

Stephanie said...

I loved your story! I too had a pair of jeans that I wore every single day after my baby was born and two weeks ago I noticed a hole forming on one of the hips. I still wore them with sweaters and long shirts until one day I noticed the hole was so big that my underwear was showing... that was the day that reality set in and I put them in the trash pile... so sad :(