Feel Good Friday: Denim

Swing by The Girl Next Door's place... and be sure to oooo and aaaaah over her fantastic new look! And feel free to go visit some other Feel Gooders, too! *** I've mentioned that my friend, Ashli, gave me some clothes that were sized smaller than what I had in my closet. At my top weight of 240, I was almost into an 18. I'm 5'8"-ish and my body distributes weight very evenly so I know that my higher poundage doesn't compute to sizes the way it would for others. Ashli has been on her own fitness journey- she's tall and pretty and athletic. She's been shrinking out of her clothes and has been kind enough to pass them along to me- dresses and skirts and pants. Last fall/winter, I wore a pair of jeans to work. The only pair I actually wore- size 18 mom jeans. And I hated jeans. But they had started letting us wear jeans on Fridays at work and I wanted to play along. One Friday, my jeans tore at the zipper and my fuschia underwear really stood out against the denim. So off I rushed to find a replacement pair. It was de-press-ing. Everything was stretch denim. Everything was low rise. I was so frustrated. I couldn't find any pair of jeans (for a reasonable price) that I could put on without looking like denim cased sausage! I was so desperate, I even tried on men's jeans. I finally found a pair of the same style of Lees that I had been wearing. Unless you are willing to shell out big bucks, jeans just aren't designed to be worn on larger bodies. Sad. I couldn't change the fashion industry so now that I've been changing my body... JEANS! Ashli passed on several pairs of jeans- size 14. A couple of pairs fit right away and were comfortable and stylish and I loved them. There was one pair... they looked so cute... but when I pulled them on, I couldn't quite get the button together... they were tight in the thighs and butt. No biggie- I knew my body just hadn't gotten there yet. They have become my favorite jeans. They are my "go to" jeans. They are the jeans I look for when I'm getting dressed. Ashli said she was actually sad to part with them because she loved them so much and I fully understand why. These are the jeans that you grab and toss in the washer right when you do a load- you can't bear for them to sit in a hamper of dirty clothes. These are the jeans that you plan outfits around. I wear them when I go out with friends. I wear them when I run errands. I wear them on weekends and to work on Fridays. I can walk in them, sit in them, dance in them- and squat down to play with my kids in them. And I won't be wearing them much longer.