Author’s Note: This piece was inspired by my favorite article of clothing from my childhood.
I will always remember my sixth birthday as the most incredible day of my childhood this might sound a bit overly dramatic considering my biggest accomplishment at the time was making a hand puppet out of a brown paper bag, however, it truly was. One brisk winter day I was awoken by the sweet aroma of crisp waffles being drowned in syrup, realizing what day it was I jumped out of bed with the biggest smile on my face and a spring in my step that no one could take away. Of course I was feeling this way, I was turning six, the moment I had been waiting for since the second I turned five, in my clueless ditsy little world turning six meant you were a “big kid”. As I came bounding around the corner and into the kitchen to alert my parents that I was officially grown up I saw a stack of presents but among them was one beautiful box that stopped me in my tracks as if I were a deer in headlights. The box was wrapped in pastel pink paper and garnished with silver ribbons that seemed like they could trail on for miles and in that moment I was awestruck. The package beckoned to me and almost seemed as though it was calling my name, so I grabbed it and sprinted to find my parents who did not understand the burning need I had to rip open the paper and see the contents of the box and decided to make me wait until after breakfast. Breakfast came and went and I was soon seated at the foot on my bed with the fate of my birthday in front of me. With no hesitation I shredded the wrapping I had once thought was so beautiful, tore open the box and saw them, the most glamorous article of clothing I had ever laid my eyes on, a, what I thought to be, beautifully crafted pair of bumblebee leggings. As a child clothing never excited me, I was more interested in the newest Barbie or Polly Pocket playset, but these leggings made me happier than my petite body could contain. I screamed and darted to change into them for my birthday party. I arrived at the party feeling like there would not be a person there that wouldn’t be jealous of my birthday attire. I strolled in with my black knit sweater and bumblebee leggings paired ever so perfectly with a pair of light up sneakers forced over mismatched fuzzy socks and my ratty hair pulled into two curly pigtails buoyantly bouncing with every confident step I took. I just knew that every look I was getting was out of pure envy of my style choices. I began to socialize with my friends and classmates and got so many compliments on the glorious pants and I soon became obsessed with them. From that day on I only wanted to wear them and when they needed to be washed it would cause full fledged meltdowns on my part. I loved those pants and they became almost like a security blanket to me, I wore them as often as I could and when I couldn’t I was planning what outfit I would put together with them when I was able to wear them again. Months and months flew by and naturally the pants I loved so dearly had begun to accumulate many battle wounds acquired from numerous falls from the monkey bars or run ins with the jelly from my sandwich at lunch, but I still held on to them dearly. These glorious days all came to an end one autumn day in my backyard. I had invited my best friend over after school to work on homework, but we, as children do, got tired of that and instead rushed outside to play hide and seek. I was an expert at this game and knew the best place to hide, behind the bushes right next to my house. When my friend gave up looking for me it was time to switch places so I emerged from the bushes and much to my surprise felt that my pants were stuck to something. My worst fear was actively coming true but not knowing how to free myself without harming the pants I just pulled myself free and in one swift moment I felt them rip straight across my calf. Not caring about the game anymore I ran inside to see if there was anything that could be done to fix them but sadly there was no hope so I changed and just like that held the leggings that had once been so beautiful were now tattered and worn down.
