Stupid Things

I am a master at doing stupid things that make me want to kick myself.  Often, those regrettable actions come in the form of dumb comments.  Or the misplacing of some rather important item.  Losing my temper and failing to keep my cool under pressure.  Volunteering for assignments that I honestly have no time or energy to accomplish.  But the thing that rankles me more than almost anything else is when I throw out the garbage, including some vitally important (or expensive) item that really can't be classified as refuse.

I did that last week...  Again...

Remember how handsome The Boy looked on his Graduation Day?  I remember it.  In fact, I hope I will long remember it.  Because the memory of how grown up he looked in his newly tailored pants, crisp dress shirt, and silk tie are all that I have left.  The unfortunate truth of what I'm confessing is that I threw away his new dress pants...  The pants that I bought at Nordstrom...  The pants that he wore twice...  Those custom-tailored pants, in charcoal grey, with the subtle pin striping...  Those pants...

You might be wondering how I could do something so stupid.  The truth is, I have lots of practice doing stupid things.  This one just happens to be a little more painful than others.  And the reason that it's a little more painful is twofold.  First, I hate paying good money only to dispose of such items so uncerimoniously.  But the more important reason is that I don't know that I'll ever convince The Boy to get another pair of dress pants.  And without him there to try them on, I'll never be able to buy him another pair that fit him as well as these did.

So, how did it happen?  Well, soon after graduation The Boy went on a Pioneer Trek.  On Trek the girls are required to wear pioneer dresses and the boys are asked to wear non-denim pants (preferably with suspenders)--it's supposed to add to the experience.  The Boy took it upon himself to purchase some wool dress pants at DI (our local Goodwill-type store).  After Trek The Boy threw his Trek clothing in the laundry along with his new dress pants.  I told him that we would need to take his dress pants to the dry cleaners if they really needed cleaning.  I asked him to put them in his room rather than leaving them in the laundry basket.  Unfortunately, I assumed he had actually done as I asked...  Why would I assume that?  Really, why?

Anyway, I decided that I was not going to pay for his wool Trek trousers to be dry cleaned.  And since all DI donations are supposed to be clean, I just decided to chuck them in the garbage.  You see where this is going, right?  I gathered up all the trousers in the basket and hauled them to the garbage.  The garbage went to the curb...  The garbage truck picked them up...  It makes me a little sick just thinking about it.

Anyhow...  While packing The Boy's belongings for his move to college, we discovered that the dress pants were missing...  Through deductive reasoning we have determined their whereabouts...  It isn't happy...