Yesterday's New York Times crossword was all about the homophones, but jeans/genes wasn't in it.
Jeans
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that an ordinary woman in possession of a need for new jeans must be in want of a pair that fit.
And yet, it seems impossible.
I ordered several pairs online – different styles, same size. I decided one pair was okay. I wore them a couple of times, and they stretched out in the waist so much that they started falling down. I could take them off without unbuttoning and unzipping. Hiking up your pants every few minutes is not conducive to living one’s life. I got out the big shears and the sewing machine and took a triangle out of the center back and put it back together like Frankenstein. That worked…for a while. I don’t know, they stretched out again? The thing is, they fit through the hips and thighs, but the waist is too big.
In desperation the other day, I reached around and gathered up another fold, marched over to my husband with a binder clip, took the pants off, and crudely hand-stitched the pleat with black button thread. I have never been so happy with a crude repair as this has made me.
But I would rather have a pair that fit without alteration. So – if you have any suggestions about where to find a pair of jeans that have an actual waist, I would be delighted to hear them.
Genes
Every so often, I get the genealogy bug. It’s been in the back of my mind that I’d like to go to Europe and visit the German island that my maternal grandfather’s family was from. He was born in the US, not long after his parents moved here from Föhr. Down the rabbit hole I went, and I was thrilled to find my grandfather’s paternal grandparents on Find-A-Grave! They're buried in the Friedhof Nieblum auf Föhr cemetery.
I haven’t found his maternal grandparents yet, but the internet is a deep and wide place, and Föhr is a small island.
Jean
My aunt Jean died recently, at the age of 96. She was a total pip – tap dancer, showgirl, puppeteer – and a delight.
When she was 89, she gave my sister a tiny little tap dance lesson. (She didn’t try and teach me, because she didn’t have any shoes that fit me.)
Here's to tap dancing in jeans.
3 comments:
I used to buy jeans from LL Bean. They were all cotton and had an actual waist. Today they would be called high-waisted. I blame the low-waisted fashion for the lack of waist in jeans. To compensate, almost all the jeans in larger sizes seem to be stretch fabric, rather than cotton.
Jeanne, on jeans
I just love your brain and all it works over. You make me feel not alone.
I like super stretchy jeans, like leggings made out of denim, because they expand and contract to meet the individual body dimensions. Do you have a TJ Maxx anywhere near? It's worth a drive to go try on some options in person.
My condolences on the loss of your dear Aunt Jean. What a remarkable woman!
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