Never Wearing Pleather Again

College - that time in our lives where we are at the gateway of figuring ourselves out. At least, that was where I was and the excuse I am going to use for the reason in my choice of clothing in the story I am about to share. Not to paint a stereotypical picture, but I was homeschooled most of my life, so I wore very modest clothing. I still do 20 years later. I have never told this story to anyone, except for one close friend last year that was asking for funny stories. She was having a bad day and for some reason, that night came flooding back.

One weekend, a group of girlfriends and I decided to go to a party out at Eastern Carolina University, from NC State. I thought that I would step outside my comfort zone of jeans and t-shirts, and try wearing a cute pair of purple snake skinned pleather pants. They were a little tighter than I preferred, but me being young, didn't think too much of it. I was going to have a good time! When I walked down the hall going into this frat party, confidence high, I felt a lot more comfortable than I did before. As in, my pants were not as tight. I could hear people talking, must have been talking about how good I look right?? Oh they were talking about me alright! Just not how I imagined.

I am not sure how many people saw, but there were about 300 there and we had to have been at the party for about 15 minutes when a girl finally tapped me on the shoulder and told me..."Honey, your pants are ripped in the back." This was now a small rip that could be hidden, this was a rip that went from the top to the bottom of my rear and then Godzilla ran his claws across these pants. Thank the lord, there was a black lining underneath! (I am forever grateful for that girl, wherever she is, for saving me from additional embarrassment.)

For the rest of that night, I sat with the guy from "Rock the Vote" and registered people to vote with his sweatshirt tied around my waist. Such a gentleman. Thanks “Rock the Vote” guy for providing me with cover. You helped a girl out when she needed someone the most. I still get flashbacks about that night and I never went out with that group of friends again.

After this happened, I try to have compassion on people in embarrassing situations. We can help each other out by quietly telling them what is going on with their pants, or slip them a note. (Honestly, being incredibly shy , I usually find someone that can and does say anything and has them tell the person what is going on. Hey, at least they know and I have spared them further embarrassment!) We are all human. We can all be reminded that by one story or another that things could be a lot more embarrassing, and to double check ourselves before going out the door.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. It has been therapeutic getting that out. Looking back, of course I am laughing. Imagine what it looked like! I certainly can see life a lot different on this side, then I did then. Not that life is any different. I am a lot different. I handle life and the events that life hands me differently. Take time to laugh and breathe. Find out who your true tribe is. It is ok if you are your own tribe, peace of mind is highly valuable. Sometimes you have to let your rear hang out to find that out.