trousers

Paris, 2011

I’ve mentioned this before but my husband is a big fan of shorts, particularly cargo shorts. (Pocketsssssss!)

I will preface today’s story with the note that while my guy prefers shorts, he does know how and when to dress appropriately, and he does so as needed. He is an adult and knows when he needs to bump things up to nice jeans, chinos, or even a suit. He might ask my opinion about what he’s thinking about wearing to an event but otherwise, I am not involved in his decision making.

In 2011 we went on a family trip to England during spring break and, in the middle, took the train to Paris for a few days. As we were planning the trip, I side-eyed my guy’s shorts and suggested that he pack trousers to wear while we were in the oh-so-fashionable capital of France. He agreed that was a good idea and even went shopping to find new pants for the trip.

I had a mom blog back then and as we prepared for the trip, I mentioned in a post that my husband went shopping for what we were now calling “France pants.” My readers loved that expression. My comment wasn’t particularly funny, just indicative of how infrequently the guy wore long trousers.

We started the trip in London, where my husband wore cargo shorts every day. His concession to the early April temperatures was a lightweight windbreaker. Meanwhile, the rest of us were wearing jeans and sweaters.

The morning we left for Paris, my guy got up and put on his France pants. The temperatures in Paris that week in April 2011 — I just checked online to refresh my memory — were around 60 °F (15-16 °C). It was not hot, y’all, but my husband was uncomfortably warm.

On the second day in Paris, he once again wore his France pants. He was again too warm, but he wanted to look appropriate.

On the third day, the temperature was forecast to be a smidge warmer. Maybe 60-63 °F. Practically a heatwave. Enough was enough. My husband was done with trousers and put on a pair of shorts. The France pants were not seen again for the rest of the trip.

However, the description France pants lives on, even now more than a decade later: Whenever I share a photo of my husband on Instagram, if he’s dressed nicely and wearing trousers, people who read my blog back in the day will comment, “France pants!”