The product has been discontinued....

Discontinued. The dreaded word that I have heard one too many times. I don't know why it always seems to happen to the things I like/love. Like at the makeup counter. I finally discover the perfect lipstick/lip gloss only to find out a few months later that it's been discontinued. The shade was not too red or too pale. It didn't go on too gloppy and the amount of gloss was age appropriate; not too shiny like a teen idol.

The same thing happened with my favorite facial cream. When I asked the counter person about it she acted like she'd never heard of it. I guess her boss told her not to acknowledge it ever existed. Funny thing is...I had an empty bottle in my purse. When I produced the bottle she looked like she'd seen a dead person. She was mortified, then blushed, and showed a more expensive alternative, but never admitted that they use to sell my old cream.

My most recent drama of the discontinued kind is my underwear. Yes, my underwear. I remember the horror I felt when I first discovered that they were not readily available at the store. But just the week before I was so happy to see that they were on sale and although I didn't like the funky prints and colors, I bought everything in my size. I know, I know. I should have seen it coming. It goes on clearance, then it's discontinued. It's a painful memory. I went from store to store looking for my favorite, my only underwear. I'm not the jump-around kind. I can't just go out and buy another kind of underwear. I find something I love and I stick with it. Eventually I did try other styles, but they weren't the same; not at all. I even looked online. Nothing. It was as if they never existed. Just like the lady at the makeup counter!

I blocked it out of my mind for a while, at least until I could come up with a new plan. Maybe I could call or write the company. But my tags were faded so I couldn't even reference the style number. Do I take a photo of them? No, that's too weird. Seems desperate. But I was desperate. Some of my beloved underwear were starting to tear at the seams, so I sewed them up. Maybe I could find some fabric identical to these and make new ones!? (Actually I haven't given up on this idea; just haven't gone to the fabric store yet.) I even contemplated going pantiless. I soon realized that I'm just not that sort of gal. I have too much of my mother in me. Just switch to another style? Sure, that might be easy for you, but you didn't know my underwear. They were perfect, really. They were thin, but not too thin. They never, ever gave me a pantyline, and they never rode up. (BTW- I tried the ones by Hanes that say they won't ride up, and guess what? They do!! Save your money.) And last but not least, my favorite undies had the perfect blend of cotton and lycra. Stretch with cotton comfort, and no yucky polyester...aahhh.

Oh how I miss going to the store and buying the season's new colors of my favorite underwear. I'm still hoarding the few pairs I have left; just like Elaine and her beloved sponges on Seinfeld. I still sew up the rips. I handle them like they are the ancient scripts from Egyptian times. If I just understood why? Why they discontinued my favorite underwear, it might make it a little easier to go on, move on, to another (gasp) kind of underwear.

So here's the lesson for today. If you fall in love with something, whether it's makeup, clothing, shoes, linens, etc., BUY IN BULK. You'll save yourself a lot of heart ache in the long run.