Prologue
I guess by now, you should probably know the story of us, or our pants anyways
. If not, I will briefly fill you in before confusing you anymore.
You see, the story truly began in a place called Bethesda, Maryland, back in the year 1985. In that summer, Gilda's gym was offering a prenatal aerobics class; which all of our mothers were crazy enough to join. It was there and then, from August to mid September, after one to many bumps to our fetal heads, that we became 'we' and so the sisterhood formed, ready to take the world by storm. (Or that's at least how we like to tell the story).
In the early years of our childhood, we four; Carmen, Tibby, Lena and myself, along with our mothers were inseparable. Our playgroup got together at least three days of the week, alternating from one house to the other. We would play tirelessly while the mothers sat around, gossiping and catching up while sipping their iced teas.
Our friendship went on this way for much of our childhood, until our mothers began drifting apart. We were too young to realize the signifigance of this. After my mother passed away though, it was obvious to see that there was something permanently missing from the original 'Septembers' friendship. A tear unable to mend itself.
We admired the strength that the Septembers' did have at one point in their lives and vowed to remain the sisterhood forever and always, there for each other whenever the need be.
The pants came to us at the perfect time. It was the end of grade ten and it was going to be our first summer apart.
Carmen purchased these pants (which I keep mentioning), from a thrift store for just $3.49. Though they appeared to be your average pair of jeans, blue, a little stiffness remaining and all worn down in the knees, they were truly much more than that. They had sat in Carmen's closet for months after she'd bought them. It wasn't until we, the sisterhood, found them on our last day together, lurking amidst the dust bunnies, that we each fell in love with them. We came to the conclusion that they must have contained some kind of magic. It was the only logical explanation for how they worked the way they did.
Though 'sisters' we may have been, the four of us and our body shapes were much different stories. That is why it was so hard to understand how this one pair of pants could fit each of us so well.
As the first summer progressed, and the pants traveled around to and from each of us (Lena in Greece, Tibby home in Bethesda, Carmen in South Carolina and me down in Mexico) it turned out they also 'had the power' to make us stronger people. They served as a good luck item, for family matters, soccer games and romances.
The pants lived on with us for three summers, until the time came when we would spend our last summer together before heading off to various colleges and universities. It was our promise to stay within fours hours of each other, incase for some reason we needed one other. Still, as many separated friends do, we somehow lost touch. Just like our mothers. There were various e-mails and letters back and forth, and occasionally a couple of us girls would get together but for the most part we did things separately, not so much acting as the sisterhood anymore. That was, until five years following our high school graduation when a simple phone call sparked a reunion and the sisterhood lived on.