Forever in Blue Jeans

One of the projects we tackled together when I was out in California this last visit was to sort through my granddaughter's clothes closet. It's never a fun task, but it often goes better with someone around to offer opinions on what needs to stay, and what needs to go.

As we were sorting through the assorted items - this is good, this is outgrown (the biggest pile), this she never wears - we came across a brand new pair of blue jeans; they'd never been worn.

My granddaughter promptly put them into the go-away pile. I couldn't figure out why, and pulled them back out. They were blue jean blue jeans - nothing special about them, neither ugly nor fashionable, and they looked like they'd still fit.

She begrudgingly tried them on, and sure enough, they fit just fine, but she still wanted them to go because she has no use for them.

No use for blue jeans?

My brain couldn't compute.

I am a child of the seventies. We wore blue jeans everywhere for everything. I still wear them more days than not, especially in the wintertime.

Her mother tried to explain.

She lives in California. While winter there is chilly, it rarely dips below freezing, so she doesn't need a good pair to block the wind on the coldest days. They have a housekeeper, so she doesn't need them to do the deep cleaning. They have no yard, so she doesn't need them to avoid getting her skin irritated by weeds or covered in bug bites while caring for the plants. When she goes hiking, she just lets the assorted sticker-plants snag up her leg coverings of choice, or wears shorts. And, blue jeans aren't cool, the other kids at school don't wear them, so she doesn't want to wear them either.

My head eventually got it, but my gut still just can't go there. Not cool?  Blue jeans?

A life where blue jeans are superfluous???

A life where one NEVER plays in the mud? A life devoid of home repairs and projects in the shop? A life where you never need to block the north wind as you trek around the park in the cold of winter? A life where you don't worry about poison ivy or bug bites? Where you're not getting down on your hands and knees to scrub the floor? Where you don't wear them just because they're sturdy and comfortable?

As I write, it occurs to me that she probably has a LOT of company; that there are a lot of people whose lives don't include blue-jeans-type tasks. Ah, well. Good for them. I'm sure they live happy and fulfilled lives, don't even notice the gap in their wardrobes, and wouldn't care if they did.

I'm just glad I don't count myself in their number.