mandalay

skater dreams

a couple of months ago, i was reminiscing about high school fashion, particularly the height of JNCO jeans. back when the leg openings were less than 44" and they weren't all cutesy punk girl/ avril lavigne style. those jeans fit me better than any other jeans i've owned. i went in search of the pairs that i'd had in high school and even got on ebay to see if any of these circa '97-'99 jeans were to be found but i was unsuccessful. i asked my mom if she remembered seeing any boxes from when we packed up my childhood house when it was sold two years ago. she didn't recall. well a few weeks ago, my mom came to visit me in my new place, bringing with her a box full of the jeans i'd worn in high school and my freshman year in college. jeans full of holes and tears, soft with wear and run down with love. see i am ridiculously faithful to pants. no seriously. my freshman year, i had these wide-leg khaki pants from pacific sunwear with a white stripe down the side that i seriously wore every day. i took them off once a week or so to wash them and promptly put them back on as soon as they were clean again. they were so soft and wonderful and my boyfriend's roommate shawn actually nicknamed me "pants" because i wore them all the freaking time. you don't give away things like this. you retire them. just like you retire a flag. if you don't want to keep it for a memory, you can't give it away or throw it away - you have to burn it. and since you don't want to do that, you put them in a box and wait till someday you can make a quilt of jeans and khaki pants, a skater quilt if you will, so that you'll always have these memories to surround yourself with. anyway, so i opened the box today since i'm trying to put away the last thusfar destination-less items in my apartment. i pulled them on (they fit surprisingly enough) and looked at myself in the mirror. i thought about wearing these with an iron key dangling from my belt loop that unlocked the drawer i kept my diary and love notes in and i noticed a little rectangular outline in the backpocket. i reached in to retrieve this paper and in my hand was $9. nine dollars from no later than 1999 folded up crisply from the back pocket of these well-loved jeans. i felt happy. not because i'm broke and need the 9 bucks (though that is a plus) but because these faded blues that i value so much gave me something of value. ok i've gotta go try the other ones on now...

UPDATE: ok i'm not even kidding - i just found a five-dollar bill in the khaki pants. also from 1999. everyone go try on old clothes with pockets!

posted by amanda @ 5:02 PM