the shrine to The Yellow Pants

i used to wear yellow pants.  i had one pair and i wore them everywhere. anytime. for everything.  i pretty much wore them as long as it wasn't over 100 degrees F.  they were not just my favorite pants.  they were magical.  magical party pants.  and they were banana yellow and they made me happy.

the yellow pants and i found each other back in march 2002.  i hate shopping.  i especially hate shopping for clothes and that's why i know exactly when i bought those pants.  i was getting ready to go on a trip to london.  i was heading over there to visit a dude who i thought was hot.  the yellow pants were perfect for the trip.  they were baggie.  they had pockets.  they had zippers at the bottom.  and they were fantastically, unapologetically YELLOW!

so off i went to run amuck in london in my yellow pants.  and that is when i discovered their magical powers -- their good juju.  that is when they became The Yellow Pants. . .

The Yellow Pants went on many more adventures around the world and across the USA. . . they were there when i spent all night taking soil temperatures in a field of trees in the appalachian mountains.  they were on the bus in Myanmar when the man seated behind me barfed into a small, clear plastic bag and then passed it over my head to toss it out my window.  they were there when i got my ring fingered tattooed on the day that dude from london and i secretly got married in a gazebo on some farm in oregon.  they were there on the night of our second, not secret, wedding when i shaved off my dreadlocks on the shores of lake superior. they were there when i broke my thumb jumping off a log on my snowboard at mt bachelor.  they were there when i crashed a brand new research truck into a fence post in new zealand.  they were there when i got sprayed by a skunk in the middle of the night while trying to spot a satellite that was supposed to light up the sky as it fell out of orbit and burned through the atmosphere. . .

you get my point. they were always there.

i even wore them on the day we met our first son. . .

but last january i realized (thanks to strongly worded comments from close friends and family, and from my husband who had been complaining about the pants for years at this point), that The Yellow Pants might be past their prime.  that perhaps they were no longer appropriate for public consumption.  honestly, i admit they looked like they'd been sleeping under a bridge for 50 years.  it was, sadly, time to retire The Yellow Pants from being pants.

but i did not throw The Yellow Pants away.  they were old and dirty and smelled bad, but they still had good ju ju.  they still had magical powers.  and i wanted to share that power.  so i designed a little shrine that could house a small piece of The Yellow Pants.  i cut up the pants and made a few shrines (i called them 'shrines' but in actuality, they were circus tents) and sent them to special people with this note:

you have been chosen (as one of a select few) to be protector and administrator 

of the magical powers of The Yellow Pants.  this wall shrine contains an actual piece 

of the legendary pants! please hang this up to bring good juju into your life.  

although The Yellow Pants are officially retired from being pants, they still have 

the power to make life exceptionally awesome.  use this power wisely and generously

Sketching out the plan

First attempt

Open to reveal The Yellow Pants

Hanging sparkly star features added