And then with great anticipation we wake up to that first day in the 70 degree mark and we pull out ...........the capris. Yes ladies it's that time of year when we must take a moment and shave what's been covered and do a little 'leg preview' for the season. Just that 3 inches shorter that says, Spring is here.
The introduction of the capri, formerly known as the peddle pusher, gave us great freedom in the midwest. I remember the days growing up that the jump from jeans to shorts was sometimes a traumatic one. Those gangly-legged middle school years when the first shock of white legs with a few bruises and scrapes took some real guts. You called your friends to make sure this was their 'leg preview' day as well.
Then the high school years. The first day of shorts was the real sign of who was rich enough to have gone on Spring Break. Those girls were already sporting tan legs and shoulders in their tank top. If you had been one of those left behind, you laid on a blanket in the backyard where no one could see you, hoping for some ray of sunshine to transform your goose bump ashen white legs into the long beautiful brown ones that your friend would come home with. Later came the tanning bed years that equaled the playing field a bit but that's not a subject I care to take on.
I personally don't own a pair of capris but I couldn't swing a cat yesterday in Indianapolis without hitting some female wearing them. I came home last night to a tearful 8 year old because she was the ONLY, yes the one and ONLY girl that didn't wear capris yesterday. (Enter sounds of pathetic sobbing here)
Being the scrappy one that she is, she tore through the garage sale basket in the attic looking for a remnant of last years capri-ness. She scoured the closet for something that just wasn't there. Then finally in a shining moment of brilliance she landed on the perfect solution! Eureka! She pulled out the faded pair of jeans with the little hole in the knee that had been just a little too short for awhile now and said those magic words. Mom, PLEASE can we cut these off into capris? Yes, she's a problem solver. I didn't tell her that young girls across the midwest had been playing the "jeans and scissors" game since the beginning of suburbs and baseball practice. I smiled and said, "Sure we can do that."
So with marker in hand I stood while she contemplated the exact right length of her new pair of capris. Once cut, she smiled with satisfaction, and then did the thing we always did next. She looked at that little strip of blue jean and said, "I can make that into a ponytail thing." Yes, you can. And she did. Like all the white legged girls before her.
So off to school she went sportin' her new capris to fit in with the masses. And if one snotty girl makes a comment about her 'home-made' capris, you'll need to hold me back.
So today, we stand ceremoniously and salute the capri and it's longevity into the midwest fashion staple category.
Happy Spring, Random Thinkers!
