I don't know if men run into this problem at all but for women finding a good pair of jeans is like finding the Holy Grail. And of course its one of those you know its coming things, finally find the perfect jeans and the company will stop making them, thus starting the great jeans crusade over again.  

I managed to find the perfect brand and style about 10 years ago. Over the next three years after the discovery of the perfect jeans, once a month I would go back and buy a pair or two of these jeans so I could have a stash for when the brand did away with the style.

My last pair of the stash turned in their final notice this spring. There was the appropriate wailing, moaning and weeping over this departure and after the assigned number of days of grieving, the great jean hunt began again. Today I was once again searching through the abyss that is Wal-mart's jean selection in vain hope of finding anything, the less than perfect but will do for now, would have been fine at this point. Winter season starts in less than two weeks and I can't wear my dance pants for things like oil painting and silver smithing.

I hit a clearance rack that had not been there a week or so ago when I last went on the hunt. I wasn't expecting much but never say I leave any stone unturned. I saw the brand and had a little stirring of hope. These were by the same manufacturer that my much lamented perfect jeans had been made by. Could I get so lucky? Probably not, I know Wal-mart and Targets jean sections like the back of my hand and I had never seen these before. No way am I going to get that lucky.

I rummaged through the stacks finding not the size I wore before, but sizes one up and one down from that. They were the tall length I prefer, I know I'm not all that tall but I like the extra long jean legs, and a mix of mid and low rise. My old jeans had been low rise which I prefer since they sit at the hip line instead of the waist, a much more natural feeling for me, but hey beggers can't be choosers and at this point I'm desperate.

I grab a few pairs in either size thinking I would probably need the larger size, isn't that always the way of it, and head off to the horror of the dressing room. There you stuff yourself into a box the size of a phone booth with dim lighting so you don't have to face the true horror of florecent lights. I'm sure there's a marketing stratagey on the changing room size invovled there too, that or they are designed by the same people who design airplane bathrooms.

Tenitively I tried on the smaller pair figuring I might as well get it over since no way in hell.......Holy crap they fit! Not only do they fit, they fit well! No chopping me in half in places when I bend or sit, the length is good, in fact they are if anything a tiny bit looser than the old ones had been. I'm sure the size in reality is probably the same but the tag says its a size smaller and my ego is going with what the tag says.

I managed not to start screaming triumphant war cries and doing the Happy Snoopy Dance, barely, got dressed and rumaged through the display to find more of these magical jeans. Five pairs later I was a deleriously happy hunter having found the object of my summer long quest. Not only had I finally found perfect jeans but five pairs for 11.00 each. SCORE!
 
I'm sure people thought I was nuts wandering through Wal-mart to pick up the other few things on my list with an ear to ear grin. No one is ever that happy to be in Wal-mart unless they are a few screws shy of something.

Yes that is the nice man and I 18 years ago today. And yes, the picture still makes ma all teary-eyed. It was my favorite photo from the entire day, me and my knight in shining armor (ok dress blues, close enough).