This is why every mama should own a pair of overalls

Dear overalls,

I remember when we met like it was yesterday. I was turning 13 and I wanted to feel like an “adult.” It was the mid-90’s, you were back in style and I wanted in. Almost every celebrity I looked up to donned a pair and if I wanted to appear “cool” in my seventh grade class, I needed you in my life.

So that’s what I did. I asked my mom for a pair and she made it happen. We went to 5,7,9 (the retail store) and I became the proud owner of you. You were a faded denim, slightly baggy around the waist and had a straight leg.

I remember wearing you and feeling so comfortable. Almost as if I could climb that tree my grandmother told me to stay away from. “You’re a big girl now—ladies don’t climb trees,” she would yell from our back porch. If she was right, I didn’t want to be a teenager anymore. But if being a teen allowed me to wear you, then it was fine by me.

When I became an adult I ventured into more sophisticated outfits like skinny jeans, crop tops and mini skirts, but every now and then I throw you on—not exactly you, but a bigger, much tighter version of you—and 90’s nostalgia hits me incredibly hard. I’m reminded of the good times we’ve shared back then, and I look forward to better times together in the days ahead.

So cheers to you for being relevant most of my entire life.

And now that I’m a mama of two, our relationship has reached new heights. I don’t wear you to get smiles from a crush, or to feel more adult. I wear you for comfort. I’m so thankful for you. I love that I can wear you when I don’t feel like doing anything, and you make me feel and look so put together.

I remember wearing you after I had my first kid and you made me feel so warm. It was like putting on my favorite pair of old socks—you felt like home. I love that you were the only thing that could fit over my belly when I wanted to take a break from #newbornlife and feel normal again. You embraced my new size and didn’t judge me. Thank you.

Thank you for also having extra large pockets to house my kids small toys.

Thank you for also enduring food spills and big messes and never once holding a stain.

Thank you for also keeping me warm on chilly fall and winter evenings.

Thank you for also being the go-to outfit while running my son to soccer class.

Thank you for forgiving me when I said you were for kids—boy was I wrong.

Thank you for being you, the ever present friend that every mama needs.

Love,

Deena