Classic

My Mike is a quiet man. So when he says something, it's important. I could count on one hand the number of times he has said, "Well, that's embarrassing." Like the time Liz, Asher, and Jim were visiting our house for the first time for dinner and we ran out of propane for the grill. Well, that's embarrassing.

The wedding this weekend was at 6 PM, and Mike and I started getting dressed at 5. The discovery was soon made that instead of pulling his entire suit from his closet, Mike had just picked out the sport coat.

NO. PANTS.

Well, that's embarrassing.

What to do... what to do..... Borrow some? Mike has a rare 31 inch waist. Wear your khakis? Didn't bring any. What DID you bring? Jeans. And a sport coat. OK. Wear jeans and a sport coat. Mike let me know under no uncertain terms that he would NOT be wearing jeans to any wedding. Period. Especially not on my family's side. The only option left is a purchase.

So off we go to buy PANTS. In 35 minutes.

By an unrealistically huge stoke of luck, Baumans was right next to the wedding venue. Mike parked the car while I stalked in and confronted poor Flynn with the steep order of finding size 31 pants to match this jacket in 25 minutes.

But Flynn rose to the challenge and had the grace and pinache to offer us beer, wine, or (because we were on our way to a wedding) champagne while he looked. The store is truly a throwback-breath-of-fresh-air-how-do-we-get-along-now-without-salespeople-who-really-care kind of place. Flynn, a New Orleans expatriate who recognized the label in my coat, took us under his wing, sat me down, set Mike up with the most gorgeous pair of pants I've ever seen, threw in a matching belt, marked the hem, and had his tailor make adjustments and hand-set said hem.

We went from embarrassed pantless gypsies to 007 and Bond Girl. All in 14 minutes.

Hey Mike, what do you want for your birthday? I sure hope it's a pair of 100% wool hand-woven, personally-tailored Italian dark chocolate brown pants. That make me drool. And a matching belt.


My favorite part? Right before the ceremony, my sweet cousin Alice's beautiful little girl, who had overheard my retelling of this (embarrassing) story, stage-whispered to her mom, "Was he going to come to the wedding in his UNDERWEAR?"

Photos courtesy of Baumans.