A rare photo of me wearing jeans from “back in the day”.

Takes out.  Not lets out.

I’m doing laundry.  Sitting on the edge of the bed folding clothes, when I feel something in my “jeans” (okay, really jeggings) give.  It feels just like a seam ripping.  I’m checking all the seams and can’t find anything wrong.  Then I realize my knee is cooler than it has any reason to be.

The cloth at the knee simply split.  Okay, not simply split.  It ripped.  A lot.  And every move I made, it ripped some more.  The fabric there had had enough.

I can’t really complain.  I’ve had these jeggings forever.

I am also resisting the temptation to cut them off and use them as shorts.

After all if the actual fabric is giving it up, the seams are probably not far behind.

And these jeggings have timed their demise perfectly.  I just got two pairs of jeans.

That’s right.  Jeans.  Not jeggings.

Don’t get me wrong I love jeggings.  But my dear husband wanted me to try jeans.

I haven’t owned actual jeans in a very long time.

Now I own two pair.  Needed a belt too – got one of those.

My history with jeans is kind of strange.

Growing up, I never had jeans.  Partly because I was fat and you couldn’t find fat jeans in the small Michigan town where I grew up; and partly because in my family, jeans were not consider proper attire for a young lady (using the term lady in its loosest connotation – but remember, my mother wore heels, nylons and a girdle when she was gardening).

But eventually Lane Bryant (Lame Giant) made it to a local mall, and I had my first pair of jeans.

I felt so hip and with it.

But mostly, I felt normal.

I grew up in the 60s and part of the 70s without a pair of jeans.

Can you imagine?

This is why fatshion is important.  And I salute those folks who blog, and video about it.  How we adorn our bodies can make a big difference in how we view ourselves and our place in the world.  It is important that fat people have access to clothing that allows them to adorn their body in a way that expresses who they are and how they want to be viewed by the world.

So when I put on my jeans, I feel like I am recapturing that moment of my misspent youth when I first knew the joys of having a denim clad behind.