A Reason to Clean

I loved the shorts from the first moment I set eyes on them at my local Kohl's store. A vibrant floral print with a tropical flair, they were bold and pretty – and a grand departure from the Nike Tempos I typically wore.

But I resisted buying them last summer. I had no great need for the shorts, and I could never line up the sales and coupons the way I liked. My willpower, which seems to be nill at Kohl's, was quite remarkable.

Then, as if someone had noticed my fortitude, I was rewarded. In the late fall of last year, I found one pair ... in my size ... on clearance ... for 80 percent off ... and I had a 30 percent off coupon. It was mean to be.

To boot, we had unseasonably warm weather last fall (and winter) and so I was able to wear the shorts a couple times before packing them away.

A photo posted by Kimberly (@foot.notes) on Nov 4, 2016 at 6:35am PDT

Or so I thought I packed them away in the plastic storage bins that line my cinder-block basement walls.

When I switched out my running clothes at the first sign of warm weather in the spring, the shorts were nowhere to be found. I shrugged it off, assuming they were in a bin that I had decided not to unpack. Maybe I would find them when I switched to winter ... again.

But then two of my workout tanks came up missing. They weren't anything special. In fact, the GapFit styles were rather ill-fitting and I rarely wore them. Still, I wanted to know where they were.

And on one randomly free Saturday, I set out to find the tanks. I cleaned up the floor of my closet, and put the toys that seemed to occupy the space back in Miles' room. I put away belts and hung hats. I cleared the top of the dresser that is in the closet and put pieces aside for a future garage sale.

Finally, it was time to pull out the piece of furniture. My eyes darted quickly around for the coral and aqua tanks but they were nowhere among the mess.

Mess.

In the pile, I found my shirt from the Go Girl Triathlon, myriad T-shirts ... and THE SHORTS. I found my favorite shorts. In November. When It would be unlikely that I could wear them. Obviously, I didn't care. I was just happy to have them.

"Who cares about the tanks?" I thought.

And then again, the universe must have sensed my shift because a week later, without intending to, I found the tanks.

I was organizing my summer running clothes, including putting said shorts in a bin, when I began pulling out the drawers of the dresser and dumping them on the bed. (Rule No. 1 of cleaning: You must make a bigger mess before achieving success.)

When I pulled out the last one, there were some items that had been pushed over the back of the drawer and fallen to the bottom ... including the two tanks. I was shocked. SHOCKED, I tell you. They were right under my feet the whole time.

So I picked them up, gave them a good shake and a hard look ... and then threw them in the bin with the other summer items. We'll see if they are still ill-fitting in 2017.