Seven pairs of pants

Since I’ve lost 25 pounds, all but a few pairs of pants are now too big for me. So I still look fat, wearing all these baggy clothes.

I hate shopping, though, especially clothes shopping. And ESPECIALLY pants shopping. Because you have to try on soooooo many pairs to find pants that fit right and that aren’t ugly or designed for 20-year-olds.

It’s been even worse in recent years, when I’ve been overweight. Totally depressing to try on pants that look like sacks with zippers.

When I lived in Dubai, I got my pants tailored just to avoid the hassle of shopping for pants. Those are some of the pairs that still fit me. Tailored clothes are wonderful that way, they magically fit all the time, even give or take 20 pounds.

I had 90 minutes to myself today while Tom was getting a massage. There was a Goodwill store right across the street, so I thought I’d pop in and see if I could find a pair of pants that didn’t look like hand-me-downs.

Scrounged through five or six racks of pants pretty quickly, based on color, fabric, condition, and a guess at the size. Loaded up the cart with a dozen pairs. Hoped that I could buy one of them – or maybe even two, since there was a sale, two pairs for $10.

I went into the dressing room, mindful of how little time I had, hoping to get through this ordeal quickly.

The first pair fit like a glove. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Score!

So did the next pair. Wow – two???

And the next.

And the next.

Every single pair fit me.

And they were all long enough for my tall legs, too.

This has NEVER happened to me.

I don’t know what the odds are, but picking 12 random pairs of pants that all fit must be about as slim as having a hemorrhagic stroke from an aneurysm within nine months of when your husband has a stroke and a tree falls on your house.

And so, courtesy of the clothing gods and Goodwill Industries, I had the astonishing luxury of choosing pants based on their overall quality, look and feel. Not based on price or fit.

I chose seven pairs. Could have bought eight, but seven is a lucky number.

Seven pairs of pants – and two tops, which I’d grabbed just to have something to try on with the pants – cost me $48.95 with tax.  Done in an hour. Enough time leftover to buy groceries for the weekend.

I love Goodwill.

Today’s penny is a 1998, the year Goodwill merged with Ellijay-based Vocational Transitions, Inc. to expand in rural areas of Georgia, and changed its name to Goodwill Industries of North Georgia.